Laura Lee Hope - The Story of a Candy Rabbit
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Laura Lee Hope >> The Story of a Candy Rabbit
Dorothy's Sawdust Doll was propped up in a chair not far from the
goldfish. Then the two little girls began to eat the cookies.
While this was going on a bad cat had sneaked into the room. The cat was
a big fellow, and he often got into mischief. He sometimes chased birds,
and, more than once, Patrick, the gardener at Dick and Dorothy's house,
had driven him away from the coops where the little chickens lived with
the old hen.
"Goodness, I hope that cat isn't after me!" thought the Candy Rabbit.
"Mercy! I hope the cat doesn't carry me off, the way the dog Carlo once
did," thought the Sawdust Doll.
But the bad cat was paying no attention to either the Doll or the
Rabbit. The cat's eyes were on the live goldfish in the glass bowl, and,
when I tell you that cats are very fond of fish, you can guess what is
going to happen.
With a quick, silent spring, making no noise on his soft, padded paws,
the cat first jumped into the chair beside the Sawdust Doll.
"Oh, dear me, he certainly is going to carry me off!" thought the Doll.
"I wish I dared scream!"
But the cat was not after the Doll. With another jump Tom landed on the
table beside the bowl of goldfish.
"Goodness sakes alive! my time has come," thought the poor frightened
Candy Rabbit. "The cat is going to eat me!"
But Tom was not after a Candy Rabbit. His greedy eyes were on the
swimming goldfish in the open glass bowl. Dorothy and Madeline sat with
their backs to the little table on which stood the bowl of fish and the
Candy Rabbit. The little girls were busy talking.
All of a sudden Tom stood up on his hind legs and put his forepaws on
the edge of the bowl. As he did this the fish began swimming around
swiftly, very much frightened, indeed, just as you may have seen a
canary bird flutter in a cage when some cat came too close.
"Oh, he isn't after me--he's after the fish!" thought the Candy Rabbit.
"Oh, the poor fish! I wish I could save them!"
Tom was switching his tail to and fro, as cats always do when they are
about to catch a bird, a fish or anything alive. The fish were swimming
about faster and faster inside their bowl of water. They could make no
noise. Some fish, such as catfish, can make a little sound out of
water, and so can the fish called grunters, but I never heard of any
other fish making any noise. Though of course they may be able to talk
among themselves, for all I know.
Standing with his forepaws on the edge of the glass bowl, Tom dipped one
paw down toward the water to get a fish. His tail kept on switching to
and fro, and, all at once, it switched against the Candy Rabbit and
tilted the Bunny over toward the glass bowl.
"Tinkle-tinkle! Tink!" went the hard ears of the Candy Rabbit against
the glass, making a noise like the ringing of a little bell.
"What's that?" suddenly cried Madeline, turning from the table where she
sat with Dorothy eating cookies.
Dorothy also turned and looked. The two little girls saw Tom up on the
goldfish table.
"Oh, you bad cat, get down from there!" cried Madeline, and she looked
for something to throw at Tom. "Get away from our fish!" she cried.
The cat paused a moment, and then, seeing he would be caught if he tried
to get a fish, down he jumped, with a last, angry switch of his tail at
the Candy Rabbit.
"That was all your fault!" hissed the cat to the Bunny in a whisper. "If
you hadn't made a noise they wouldn't have seen me. I'll fix you for
that, Mr. Candy Rabbit!"
CHAPTER IV
UP IN THE AIR
Madeline and Dorothy were so surprised at first at seeing the bad cat in
the room that they did not know what to do, except that Madeline called
"Scat!" to him.
But when the cat jumped down and started to run out of the room, the
little girls began to talk very fast.
"Oh, wasn't he a bold thing!" cried Madeline.
"Did he get any of your goldfish?" Dorothy asked.
She and Madeline hurried over to the bowl and counted the swimming
fishes.
"No, there are five there, and that's all we had," said Madeline. "The
naughty cat didn't get any."
"What do you suppose made that noise like the ringing of a bell?" asked
Dorothy.
"It was the Candy Rabbit," answered Madeline. "Look! He fell over
against the glass bowl, and, lots of times, when I've been feeding the
fish and have struck the bowl, it has rung like a bell. The Candy Rabbit
did that, and that's what made me look around."
"Wouldn't it have been funny if the Rabbit had made the bowl tinkle all
by himself?" asked Dorothy, with a laugh.
"Yes. But he couldn't," said Madeline.
And, now I come to think of it, maybe the Candy Rabbit did topple over
by himself, to strike against the bowl and so cause Dorothy and Madeline
to turn around in time to stop the bad cat from getting the goldfish.
Mind you, I am not saying for sure that this happened. The cat's tail
certainly brushed against the Candy Rabbit, but the sweet chap may have
tinkled against the glass globe himself. He surely wanted to save the
fish from being eaten.
During the rest of Easter Sunday the children played quietly with their
toys. Mirabell and Arnold, the other little boy and girl, came over to
Madeline's house with their gifts and every one had a happy time.
The Candy Rabbit was looked at over and over again, but, though he liked
this and was glad and happy he had come to live with Madeline, yet he
could not help worrying about what the cat had said.
"I wonder if a cat can do anything to me," thought the sweet chap, over
and over again. "I must be on the watch. He may try to sneak in again."
But, as the days passed and nothing happened, the Candy Rabbit did not
worry so much, nor think so much about it. He saw nothing more of the
cat.
Madeline took very good care of her Candy Rabbit. She got a piece of
pink ribbon and tied it around her Easter toy's neck, making him look
very pretty.
"Now I am as stylish as Dorothy's Sawdust Doll, who has a blue ribbon on
her hair," thought the Candy Rabbit.
And because of that very same pink ribbon something dreadful happened a
few days later. I will tell you about it. After Easter the weather
gradually became warmer and sunnier. Doors and windows could be left
open, and the flowers in the yard began to blossom.
One day the Candy Rabbit was placed by Madeline on a chair in the
dining room, near the bowl of goldfish on their little round table. The
Sawdust Doll was not in the room, for Dorothy had her toy out in her own
yard playing. The Candy Rabbit was lonesome, for he did not know how to
talk to the goldfish.
All of a sudden, in through the open window, jumped the same bad cat
that had been there before. His tail was lashing to and fro, and his
whiskers were wiggling up and down.
"Meow!" said the cat.
"Oh, dear, here he is again!" said the Candy Rabbit, and, being able, as
all toys are, to speak and understand animal language, the Candy Rabbit
went on:
"Have you come to try to catch a goldfish, Mr. Tom?"
[Illustration: "It Was Not My Fault," Said Candy Rabbit.
_Page_ 43]
"Not now!" was the snarling answer. "I came to pay you back, as I said I
would! Only for your toppling over and making the glass globe tinkle,
I would have had a goldfish before this. It's all your fault, and I'm
going to pay you back!"
"It was not my fault!" said the Rabbit. "You knocked me over yourself
with your switching tail. But if I could have stopped you in any other
way from getting a goldfish, I would have done it."
"Ha! So that's the way you feel about it, is it?" growled the cat.
"Well, I'm going to fix you!"
"How?" asked the Candy Rabbit, wondering what was going to happen. "What
are you going to do?"
"I'm going to carry you off to the fields and lose you in the tall
grass," was the answer. "Then the next time I want to catch a goldfish
you will not give the alarm."
"Oh, please don't take me away!" begged the Candy Rabbit.
"Yes, I will!" said the cat. "I'll carry you away by that pink ribbon
around your neck."
All of a sudden, before the Candy Rabbit could hop out of the way, the
bad cat sprang across the room and caught in his teeth the end of the
pink ribbon that was around the neck of the Candy Easter toy.
"Stop it! Stop! Please let me go!" cried the Candy Rabbit.
"I'll fix you!" was all the cat answered. Then, carrying the Candy
Rabbit in his mouth by means of the ribbon, the bad cat sprang out of
the window again and was soon trotting through the tall grass of the
lots near the house where Madeline lived.
The grass swished and swashed against the legs and ears of the Candy
Rabbit as the cat carried him along. The Rabbit was not hurt any,
because the ribbon was not tied very tightly about his neck. And of
course the cat's teeth did not touch him. But, for all that, the Candy
Rabbit was very angry and somewhat alarmed.
"What are you going to do with me?" he asked the cat.
"You'll see!" was the answer. "I'm going to fix you for spoiling my
chance of getting a goldfish dinner! I'm going to lose you, and then
I'll go back and get a fish."
Carrying the Candy Rabbit a little way farther into the tall grass, the
cat suddenly let go of the ribbon. The Rabbit fell down, but as the
grass was soft, like a cushion, he was not hurt. He gave a little grunt
as he fell down.
"Now you stay here a while and see how you like it," said the bad cat,
and away he trotted, hoping to get a meal of goldfish this time. And
there came to the poor Candy Rabbit from the distance the sound of the
Cat's voice as he laughed, "Ha-ha," and snarled, "I've fixed _you_ all
right! Ha-ha!"
"Dear me!" thought the poor Candy Rabbit, "I wonder what will happen to
me. I must try to get out of here. I can hop, as long as no human eyes
see me. Maybe I can get back in time to warn the goldfish of their
danger."
The Rabbit tried to hop, but, being made of candy as he was, with rather
stiff legs that were not very long, he could not go very fast. And when
he had made a few hops he was very tired.
"Dear me! I shall have to stay here forever, perhaps," he sighed. "And,
if it rains and I get wet, I'll melt and there will be nothing left of
me! Oh, what trouble I am in!"
The Candy Rabbit crouched down in the grass, and pretty soon he heard
some voices talking. He knew they were the voices of boys, and, in a
little while, he heard one say:
"Now, Herbert, you hold the kite and I'll run with it."
"All right, Dick," said some one else. "I hope it flies away up high in
the air."
"I'll keep the tail clear of the weeds," said another boy.
"That's the way, Dick," said the first boy.
The Candy Rabbit, down in the grass, heard this.
"They must be Dick, Herbert and Arnold," he thought. "They have come
here to fly their kite. I hope they find me and take me home in time to
save the goldfish from the cat."
There was more talk and laughter among the boys, but the Candy Rabbit
could not see what they were doing. All at once, though, one boy said.
"The tail of the kite is not heavy enough. We've got to tie something to
it. And, oh, here is the very thing!" he went on. "We'll give him a ride
up in the air!"
"Give who a ride?" asked Dick, for it was Herbert who had spoken.
"Give Madeline's Candy Rabbit a ride on the end of the kite tail," went
on Herbert. "Here's her Rabbit down in the grass."
"How did he get here?" asked Arnold.
"I don't know. Maybe my sister carried him over the fields to show to
some girl and dropped him. But we'll give the Candy Rabbit a ride in the
air. He will be just heavy enough for the kite tail. I'll tie him on."
And then, before the Candy Rabbit could hop away, even if he had been
allowed to do so (which he was not) Herbert began tying him on the end
of the kite tail by means of the pink ribbon.
A moment later the Rabbit felt himself sailing through the air.
CHAPTER V
THE ORGAN GRINDER
Since the Candy Rabbit had left the toy store, after having been put on
the Easter novelty counter, so many things had happened that he was
beginning to get used to them. But sailing through the air on the tail
of a kite was something he had never done before.
Up he went, higher and higher, as the wind blew the kite. The Candy
Rabbit looked down toward the ground. It seemed a long way off--very far
from him.
"If I should fall now, as I fell when the lady dropped me in the toy
store," thought the Candy Rabbit, "I think it would be the end of me.
There is no soft rubber ball here on which to land."
Dick, Arnold and Herbert, the three boys who had been flying their kite
when they found the Candy Rabbit in the grass, were laughing and
shouting as they saw the tail switching to and fro, with the Easter
Bunny tied on the end.
"That Rabbit was just the thing needed to make our kite go up," said
Dick.
"Yes," agreed Arnold. "But it's funny the Rabbit was out in the grass
here, wasn't it?"
"Oh, I guess my sister must have dropped him," remarked Herbert. "When
we get through flying the kite I'll take the Rabbit off the tail and
carry him back to Madeline."
Up and up, and to and fro, switched the Candy Rabbit on the kite tail.
Of course a bunch of grass, a wad of paper, or even a stone would have
been just as well for the boys to have used as a weight. But they had
happened to see the Candy Rabbit, and had taken him. Boys are sometimes
like that, you know.
How long Herbert, Dick and Arnold might have let the Candy Rabbit sail
about on the end of the kite tail I cannot say, but when the three chums
had been having this fun for about half an hour, all of a sudden
Madeline and her two friends, Mirabell and Dorothy, came running across
the field.
"Oh, Herbert! what do you think?" cried Madeline, when she saw her
brother. "That bad old cat came into our house again, and tried to catch
one of our goldfish!"
"Did he get any?" asked Herbert.
"No, but he almost did. Dorothy came over with her Sawdust Doll just as
the cat was dipping his paw down into the bowl, and what do you think
Dorothy did?" asked Madeline.
"I don't know. What did she do?" asked Herbert.
"I just threw my Sawdust Doll at the cat!" exclaimed Dorothy. "I knew it
couldn't hurt her, 'cause she's stuffed with sawdust."
"Did you hit him?" Dick asked.
"I almost did," answered Dorothy. "Anyhow, I scared him away, and he
didn't get any goldfish."
"That's good," said Arnold.
"I wish I'd been there!" said Dick.
Just then Madeline looked up and saw something dangling on the end of
the kite tail.
"Why, Herbert!" she cried, "what have you there? Oh, you have my Candy
Rabbit on your kite! I was looking all over for him. Where'd you get
him?"
"I found him here in the field where you dropped him," answered her
brother.
"I didn't drop my Candy Rabbit here," went on Madeline. "I wouldn't do
such a thing. I left him in the house, and then I couldn't find him, and
I was coming to ask if you had seen him. I thought maybe Carlo had
carried him off as he carried Dorothy's doll once."
"Well, if you didn't take your Candy Rabbit out and leave him here in
the field, maybe Carlo did," said Herbert. "Anyhow, we didn't hurt him
and you can have him back again. We can tie a bunch of weeds on the kite
tail. They'll be just as good as the Rabbit."
"Oh, the idea of saying my Candy Rabbit is like a bunch of weeds!" cried
Madeline. "Give him right back to me this minute, Herbert!" and she
shook her finger at her brother.
"All right," Herbert answered. "Pull the kite down, fellows."
"All right."
Down came the kite when the string was wound up, and slowly the Candy
Rabbit floated back to earth. Madeline stood under the tail with her
dress held out to catch the Bunny in it. And down he came, not being
hurt a bit. Quickly Madeline loosened her Easter toy from the kite tail,
and she nestled him in her arms.
"You poor little Bunny!" she murmured. "I guess he was scared half to
death away up there in the air."
She and the other girls looked at the toy. He did not seem to be harmed
in the least.
"But he's got a green grass stain on one ear," said Mirabell.
"That only makes him look more stylish," said Dorothy.
"And green goes well with the pink color of his ribbon," added Madeline.
"Oh, I'm so glad to get my Rabbit back."
Madeline took her Candy Rabbit back to the house. There she and the
girls had some fun, and the boys kept on flying the kite. They used a
bunch of weeds as a weight on the tail, instead of the Rabbit, as they
had done at first.
And of course neither Madeline nor any of the others knew that the cat
had carried the Bunny away and had dropped him in the grassy field. They
all thought Carlo had done it, but of course there was no way of finding
out for sure, except by reading this book. In this the true story of the
Candy Rabbit is told for the first time.
Madeline tried to get the green grass-stain off her Rabbit's ear, but
it would not come out.
"Why don't you scrape it off?" asked Herbert.
"Why, I might scrape off half his ear! No, indeed!" Madeline said.
"Well, wash it off," suggested Dick, who had come over to play with
Herbert. "Take him up to the bathroom and wash his ear. My mother washes
my ears."
"Pooh! your ears aren't made of candy," said Madeline.
"No. And I'm glad they're not, or the fellows would be biting pieces off
all the while," laughed Dick.
"Well, I guess I won't wash my Candy Rabbit--at least not just yet,"
said Madeline. "I'll wait until he gets a few more stains on him."
Several days passed. The bad cat did not again try to catch the
goldfish. He seemed to have been frightened away when Dorothy threw the
Sawdust Doll at him. And, I am glad to say, the Doll was not hurt in the
least. In fact, she rather liked scaring cats.
One day Madeline took her Candy Rabbit out into the kitchen where the
cook was making a cake. She had just put the cake into the oven to bake,
and there were several dishes on the table--dishes in which were dabs of
sweet, sugary icing and cake batter.
"Oh, may I please clean out some of the cake dishes?" asked Madeline.
"Yes," answered the cook kindly.
This was one of the pleasures Madeline and Herbert enjoyed on baking
day, but Herbert was not on hand then, so Madeline had all the dishes to
herself. She set her Candy Rabbit on a shelf, got a spoon, and began to
clean the icing dish. Of course you know that means she scraped the
dish with the spoon and ate the icing she scraped up. Yes, and I think
she even licked the spoon. After she had finished the white icing dish
there was a chocolate one to start on.
"Oh, I'm going to have a dandy time!" laughed the little girl.
She forgot all about her Candy Rabbit. There he sat on a shelf near the
gas stove, and as the cakes in the oven began to bake, the fire grew
hotter and hotter and the Candy Rabbit began to feel very strange.
"Dear me, I am afraid I am going to melt!" he said to himself, not
daring to speak aloud when Madeline and the cook were there.
The kitchen grew warmer and warmer, the stove became hotter and hotter,
and, on the shelf where the Candy Rabbit sat, it was like a summer day
in the blazing sun.
"This is worse than anything that ever happened to me before," said the
Candy Rabbit. "I think I'll just melt down into a lump of sugar! That
would be dreadful!"
Of course it would, and Madeline would have been very sorry if anything
like that had happened. One of the ears of the Rabbit was just getting
soft and drooping over a little to one side, when the cook happened to
look toward the shelf.
"Oh, Madeline, my dear!" she cried. "Your Candy Rabbit!"
"What's the matter?" asked the little girl, looking up from the dish she
was scraping clean with a spoon, in order to eat the last of the
chocolate inside.
"He will melt if you leave him on that shelf near the hot stove," went
on the cook. "Look, one of his ears is drooping!"
"Oh, dear!" screamed Madeline, and, dropping the spoon, she caught her
Easter toy from the shelf.
It was only just in time, too, for the poor Rabbit was just beginning to
melt. In fact, one of his ears did soften and twist over to one side a
little. But Madeline quickly took him out on the cool porch, and the
Rabbit felt better. However, that queer twist, or droop, stayed in one
ear--not the one with the grass-stain on, but the other.
"I don't care," Madeline said, when her toy was cool and all right
again. "It makes him look different from the other Candy Rabbits to have
a twisted ear. It's so funny!"
Happy days followed for the Bunny. The children played sometimes in one
house and sometimes in another, taking their toys with them, and
sometimes the Rabbit had a chance to talk to the Sawdust Doll, the Bold
Tin Soldier, the White Rocking Horse or the Lamb on Wheels, for the
children would often leave their toys together, as the boys and girls
went out to play in the yards or on the verandas.
"I wonder how the Calico Clown is getting along," said the Candy Rabbit
to the Sawdust Doll on one of the days when they were together. They
were on the porch of Madeline's house, and Madeline, Mirabell and
Dorothy were around in the back yard playing in a sand pile.
"I should like to see him, and also the Monkey on a Stick," said the
Doll. "Hark! What's that?" she suddenly asked, as strains of music were
heard.
"It's a hand organ, and here comes a man playing it," said the Candy
Rabbit.
"Has he a monkey with him to gather pennies in his hat?" asked the
Sawdust Doll.
"No. But he has a little girl with him. She has a basket. I guess she
gathers pennies in that. Maybe the organ man had a monkey but it ran
away," suggested the Rabbit.
"Maybe," agreed the Doll. "Oh, isn't that nice music!" she cried. "It
makes me feel like dancing!"
The hand-organ man was, indeed, playing a nice tune. The girl who was
with him came into the yard and up the steps, holding out her basket
ready for pennies. The little girls being in the back yard, no one was
near the front of the house.
"Ah, a Candy Rabbit and a Sawdust Doll!" exclaimed the organ man's girl.
"Nobody seems to want them. I have a doll of my own, but I have no
Candy Rabbit. I think I will take this one. I would rather have him than
pennies!"
And, looking quickly here and there to see if any one was going to toss
her a penny, but seeing no one, the hand-organ man's little girl picked
up the Candy Rabbit, tucked it under her apron, and quickly went down
the steps again.
"Well, of all things!" thought the Candy Rabbit, as he felt himself
being taken away in this fashion. "Of all things! What is this
hand-organ girl going to do with me?"
And that is something we must find out.
CHAPTER VI
THE PEDDLER'S BASKET
Slowly down the street walked the organ grinder, turning the crank and
making music. His little girl, an Italian child, after putting the Candy
Rabbit under her apron, looked around the house where Madeline lived to
see if any one might be coming out with pennies. But no one came.
Madeline and Dorothy and Mirabell were in the back yard where they had
gone to play in the sand pile, after leaving the Sawdust Doll and the
Candy Rabbit on the front veranda. Madeline's mother was not at home,
and the cook was too busy in the kitchen to bother with giving pennies
to organ grinders, though she might have done so if she had had time and
had had plenty of pennies.
As for Madeline and Dorothy and Mirabell, they had given one look down
the street when they heard the hand-organ music. Then, as they saw he
had no monkey with him, Madeline said:
"Oh, a hand-organ isn't any fun unless it has a monkey. We don't want to
bother waiting to see this one. Come on and play."
So, as I have told you, they were in the back yard, leaving the Doll and
the Rabbit on the veranda. And then the hand-organ man's little girl had
come along and taken the Rabbit.
"I'll take him home with me. Nobody wants him," she said to herself as
she went down off the veranda with the candy chap under her apron. And
she really thought the Rabbit had been put out because no one wanted
him. She slipped the Bunny into a large pocket in the skirt of her dress
and hurried on after her father, who had walked down the street grinding
out his tunes.
The organ grinder's little girl did not tell her father about the Candy
Rabbit until that night when they reached their home after their day's
travel.
With the organ man lived his brother, who was a peddler. He had a big
basket in which he carried pins, needles, pin cushions, little looking
glasses, court plaster and odds and ends, called "notions." This peddler
man went about from house to house selling notions to such as wanted to
buy them.
He, too, had been about all day, peddling with his basket, and he
reached home about the same time as did his brother, the organ grinder,
and the little girl.
The family had supper, and, after that, Rosa brought out the Candy
Rabbit. All the while the Bunny had been in her pocket, and the sweet
chap did not like it very much.
"I want to be out where I can see things," murmured the Rabbit. "I want
to see what is happening. It is dreadful to be kidnapped like this and
carried away from home!"
