[Illustration: 4 Making Somebody Happy]
Chapter 4
Making Somebody Happy
Well, that very evening Jimmy Rabbit made a certain
young neighbor very happy by hanging a May basket on her
door.
And then he hurried along to Henry Skunk's house.
He
hoped Henry was still there; for when Henry Skunk went out of
an evening he seldom came home until morning.
Jimmy hung the basket of eggs on the doorknob, rang
the bell, and then ran and hid behind a tree. He peeped out,
as he heard the door open; and he saw Henry Skunk look all
around.
He seemed angry,
until he caught sight of the basket.
And then Henry Skunk certainly was pleased.
"Ah, ha!" he exclaimed. "A May basket! Now, I wonder
what friend of mine has left this for me!" He looked inside
the basket. "Ah, ha! Hens' eggs!" he cried.
"I'll sit down on
my front steps and eat them. Then I won't have to give
anybody else a taste."
That was like Henry Skunk.
He was a selfish
fellow--always greedy, never offering to share a dainty with
anyone.
Jimmy Rabbit was holding his mouth. He knew that if
he laughed he would spoil everything.
As he listened, he
heard a _snap_!
And Henry Skunk said "Oh!" as if something
hurt him, and surprised him, both. "I declare, I've broken a
tooth!" he exclaimed.
"That's the hardest egg I ever saw.
I'll try another." And he took another egg out of the basket.
There was another _snap_! This time Henry cried "Ow!"
It was queer, to break two teeth like that.
And he reached
into the basket for the third egg. "It certainly can't happen
again," Henry told himself.
And he bit the third egg with all
his might.
How it hurt him! He fairly howled with pain.
And then Jimmy Rabbit snickered. He could hold in his
laughter no longer.
That was enough for Henry Skunk. He looked around
quickly.
And what he saw made him very angry. For he knew
then that those eggs were nothing but a joke.
Now, when he tittered, Jimmy Rabbit had jumped back
behind the tree round which he had been peeping.
He thought
that he was safely out of sight. But he had forgotten all
about his ears.
They were so long, and they stuck out so far,
that Henry Skunk could see them. And he knew right away who
had played that trick on him.
He did not think it was any joke, to break three
teeth.
And he began to creep toward those ears. But there was
one thing that Henry Skunk had not noticed.
He had not looked
up in the branches above Jimmy Rabbit's head. If he had, he
would have seen
Frisky Squirrel, who had come along to see
the fun.
As soon as Frisky saw what was happening, he cried:
"Look out, Jimmy!"
And Jimmy Rabbit looked out just in time. The smile
faded from his face. And he turned and ran.
Henry Skunk did not chase him. He was no runner.
But
he hoped that some day he could catch _both_ those meddlesome
youngsters.
[Illustration: Jimmy Rabbit delivers his May basket]
"Well, what did I tell you?" Jimmy Rabbit said, when
Frisky joined him at a good, safe distance from Henry Skunk's
house. "Didn't I say there'd be some fun?"
"But I don't understand what happened," Frisky said.
"I thought Henry Skunk _liked_ hens' eggs."
"So he does!" Jimmy Rabbit answered.
"But those were
not real hens' eggs. They were china eggs which I found in
Farmer Green's henhouse.
And they were almost as hard as
stones."
Frisky Squirrel laughed.
"I wish we had some more," he said.
"Then we could
hang a May basket on Fatty Raccoon's door....
I don't suppose
you'd care to go back to Henry's house and get those eggs?"
"I don't suppose I would," said Jimmy Rabbit.
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