The Tale of Jimmy Rabbit Part 10

Then Jimmy waited for some time, because Fatty c.o.o.n had not appeared at all. You see, Fatty had been trying and trying to bring a cabbage up the hill, to pay for having his fortune told. But before he was half way up he always grew so hungry that he had to eat the cabbage, and then there was nothing to do but go back for another. So poor Fatty never had his fortune told at all.

The next day Jimmy Rabbit heard that Mr. Fox and Henry Skunk had had a terrible battle on the other side of Blue Mountain, just as the moon came up. It was said that each thought the other was spying on him.

Jimmy Rabbit was the only person who knew how it had come about. And _he_ wouldn't tell.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Night of the Rabbit's Ball]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 16 Red Leggins]

16

Red Leggins

It was winter. And you would naturally think that Jimmy Rabbit would be happy, there was so much snow to play in. But he wasn't. I am sorry to say that he was sulking in the house, while all his friends were out of doors, having a good time in the snow.

The trouble was this: Mrs. Rabbit wouldn't let Jimmy play in the snowdrifts unless he wore his red leggins. And Jimmy just hated them.

None of the other youngsters had to wear red leggins. And they made all manner of fun of Jimmy, and called him names, whenever he appeared in those bright red things.

The worst name that they called him was one that Fatty c.o.o.n made up. It was "Red Legs." And it was a little more than Jimmy could bear. So Jimmy said he would rather not go out at all, than wear those horrid leggins.

"Very well!" his mother said.

But all the time Jimmy kept wishing he was out there with the others. He could hear them laughing and shouting.

"Mayn't I go out without my leggins if I stay in my own yard?" he asked his mother.

"Yes!" she said, "if you won't step in the deep snow." So Jimmy went outside and watched his friends.

"Come on, Jimmy!" they cried. "Tommy Fox has taught us a new game. It's fox-and-geese!"

But Jimmy Rabbit shook his head.

"I can't!" he said. "I'm too busy."

"Ho! Jimmy Rabbit has to work!" somebody cried.

But Jimmy Rabbit smiled.

"Maybe _you'd_ call it work," he said. "But _I_ call it a good deal of fun.... I'm forming a club," he told them.

"A club? What's that?" asked Frisky Squirrel.

"It's a jolly band of fellows," Jimmy told him. "Sort of a secret society, you know. We'll have all kinds of fun."

"Who's in your club?"

"That's one of the secrets," Jimmy answered. "We don't tell."

"I'd like to join," Frisky told him. And the others all said that they would like to be members, too.

"Well, everything has to be very private," Jimmy said. "Anybody who wants to belong to the club has to come and ask me. And I'll tell him what to do, if I want him to belong.... One at a time, now! Don't crowd!" Jimmy said. For everybody was coming inside his yard.

He stood at one side and wouldn't talk above a whisper. And to each of his friends he said:

"You have to have a uniform, you know.... The name of the club is The Scarlet Spies. And everyone who is in it must wear a pair of scarlet leggins."

Just as soon as they learned that, the whole troop hurried away. And by afternoon the woods seemed to have turned red, there were so many pairs of scarlet leggins twinkling almost anywhere you looked.

In fact, there was only one of Jimmy's young neighbors who hadn't been able to get a pair. And that was Fatty c.o.o.n. Goodness knows he wanted some scarlet leggins. But his mother simply would not buy him any, in spite of all his teasing.

"Why are we called The Scarlet Spies?" Frisky Squirrel asked Jimmy.

"Because we _spy_ on everybody who doesn't wear the uniform," Jimmy Rabbit explained. "Now, there's Fatty c.o.o.n! We'll follow him wherever he goes, and watch everything he does. But we mustn't have anything to do with him, because he's what is called an 'outsider'."

Fatty c.o.o.n didn't like it at all when he found that The Scarlet Spies were following him about, hiding behind trees, and peeping at him.

"Shucks!" he cried. "Those are nothing but _red leggins_! Jimmy Rabbit has played another trick on you."

But Jimmy Rabbit didn't mind what he said. He could play in the snow now without being called names. And that was enough for him.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 17 The Rabbits' Ball]

17

The Rabbits' Ball

The Rabbits' Ball (that was a dancing party, you know) was something to which Jimmy Rabbit had looked forward for a long time.

Now, only rabbits were invited. And everybody that came was expected to wear fancy clothes, and a mask.

Jimmy Rabbit had decided that he would go to the Ball dressed like one of his sisters. He thought that he could have a good deal of fun in that way. And as it happened, he was not disappointed.

The night of the great Ball had come; and Jimmy Rabbit had a delightful time dancing with friends of his who thought he was a girl. But after a while almost everybody knew almost everybody else--in spite of the masks they wore. But there were two dancers whom n.o.body seemed to know.

One was dressed as a giant-dwarf, and the other as a dwarf-giant. And they looked a good deal alike, except that one of them (that was the gentleman) was tall and thin; and the other (that was the lady) was short and fat. They didn't appear even to know each other. But they both enjoyed the Ball--at least they told everyone that they did.

Before the Ball was over the tall, thin stranger invited Jimmy Rabbit to dance with him--supposing, of course, that Jimmy was a girl.

It struck Jimmy that the stranger was very, very tall for a rabbit. Only rabbits were invited to the party, you remember.