DOCTOR RABBIT TALKS WITH BIG DOG YAPPY

You remember how badly scared Sophy Woodchuck and Neighbor Chipmunk were when they both climbed up on their stumps at the same time. Well, after their scare was over, they sat on their stumps—which were their homes, of course—and went on talking about various things that had happened among their neighbors of late; but in particular they talked about the terrible Ki-yi Coyote.

Then all of a sudden something happened that made them jump off their stumps, and dart in at their back doors and lock them in a hurry.

They had heard some animal tearing through the woods, apparently straight[Pg 71] at them. As they peeked from their windows they naturally thought it was Ki-yi Coyote. But it wasn’t. Ki-yi Coyote would have been far too smart to make so much noise. No, it was Farmer Roe’s big dog, Yappy.

Yappy wasn’t running after anything in particular. He was just running through the woods to take a little exercise and enjoy himself.

Yappy ran around for a time while the little creatures of the Big Green Woods hid and looked out at him. After he had scratched on Cheepy Chipmunk’s door and tried to dig into Stubby Woodchuck’s home, Yappy started out of the woods as fast as he had come in.

Just as he passed Doctor Rabbit’s house, Doctor Rabbit put his head out of a hole pretty well up in the tree and said, “Good morning, Yappy!”

[Pg 72]Happy Yappy stopped mighty quick and looked all around. He couldn’t see anybody at first, and he wondered who it was that had spoken. Stubby and Mrs. Stubby and Cheepy and Mrs. Cheepy came to their windows to peek out and listen. Robin-the-Red, Jim Crow, and ever so many other of the little creatures of the Big Green Woods also listened. They wondered what Doctor Rabbit would say to Yappy.

After gazing around and up a little, Yappy at last saw Doctor Rabbit looking from the hole up in the tree.

“Why, good morning, Doctor!” Yappy said, in his pleasantest voice. “Come down on the grass here; you will be more comfortable.”

“No, thank you,” Doctor Rabbit said, “I’d rather talk from up here. You look pretty hungry, and I just wanted to[Pg 73] ask you how you would like to have Jack Rabbit for your breakfast to-morrow morning?”

This was a question that was a little hard for Yappy to answer, under the circumstances. Rabbit was his favorite dish, when he could get one. He saw he could not get Doctor Rabbit, and he thought Doctor Rabbit was just making fun of him. Of course, Yappy was pretty angry. He was all the more angry because, although he had chased Jack Rabbit many times, he never had been able to catch him. Still, he was always willing to try again.

“That’s all right about my wanting Jack Rabbit,” Yappy snapped; “I could catch him in no time if I wanted to.”

Doctor Rabbit almost laughed out loud at this, but he didn’t, because that might have spoiled what he wanted to do.

[Pg 74]“Why, of course,” Doctor Rabbit said in his most friendly tones. “And I have decided I’ll give you a chance at him. In fact, I have been watching for you to tell you this very thing. Now, all you have to do,” Doctor Rabbit continued, “is to go where I tell you, and when I tell you, and you will run right on to him.”

Yappy was certainly puzzled about this matter. Why, he wondered, did Doctor Rabbit want to get rid of Jack Rabbit? “Oh, well,” Yappy thought to himself, “perhaps Jack Rabbit has been over in the Big Green Woods cuffing Doctor Rabbit; or maybe it is just because Doctor Rabbit is angry at Jack Rabbit for something or other he’s done.”

“Well”—and Yappy tried to say it as if he was not very much interested—“Well,[Pg 75] I don’t care much, but if you want to, you may tell me when and where I can find him.”

“Good!” said Doctor Rabbit, and then he continued, “He’ll be in a new burrow right by the first tree you come to out in the Wide Prairie. And he’ll be there to-morrow morning at exactly nine o’clock.”

“How do you know that?” Yappy asked with deep curiosity.

“Never mind how I know,” Doctor Rabbit retorted. “He’ll be there as sure as anything.”

Yappy yawned as if it didn’t make much difference to him. Then he said, “Well, I guess I’ll be moving,” and away he ran through the woods until he was out of sight.

Doctor Rabbit chuckled to himself. He knew mighty well that Yappy was[Pg 76] interested, even if he did try to act as if he didn’t care. And he knew the greedy fellow would be at that tree at nine the next morning, too.

Of course the other little creatures of the Big Green Woods were much puzzled that Doctor Rabbit should seem to have turned so quickly against Jack Rabbit. But the next morning they found out all about it. And something happened of which they had never even dreamed.