over a brook, a little
fish swam up to the top of the water and said:

"Here is a letter from your friend, the Whale," and he held up in his
mouth a blue envelope. I guess it was made of some kind of waterproof
paper, for it wasn't the least bit damp.

And when Billy Bunny opened it, he found a small coral ring inside,
and in the letter it said: "This ring is for you, Billy Bunny.

"The pretty mermaid asked me to send it to you, so here it is. Please
tell the little fish that you have received it and that it fits you
perfectly." And then the Whale signed himself, "Your great big-hearted
friend, the Whale."

STORY XXXVIII.

BILLY BUNNY AND OLD MOTHER MAGPIE.

Uncle Bullfrog sings a song
That is never very long.
All he says is, "Chunk, ker-chunk!"
Then he splashes in ker-plunk,
And the little fishes swim,
Oh, so fast away from him!
If they didn't, don't you think
He would eat 'em in a wink?

Now who do you suppose was singing this song? Why, a little tadpole
named Taddylegs. And it made Uncle Bullfrog quite cross, for he didn't
like tadpoles anyway, and Taddylegs wasn't very polite, as you can
see.

"Now swim away," said the old gentleman frog, and he looked angrily at
Taddylegs. "Now swim away or I'll swallow you and maybe your cousin
and your aunt if they're around." So the little tadpole swam away and
after a while Old Uncle Bullfrog saw Billy Bunny not very far away. He
was talking to Mrs. Cow about the clover patch.

You see, Mrs. Cow was very fond of clover and so was the little
rabbit, and he knew that Mrs. Cow could eat maybe three hundred and
forty-seven times as much clover as he could, and so he was afraid she
might eat up the whole patch and leave nothing for anybody else.

"Please don't eat all the clover tops; mother wants to preserve some
for the winter."

"Don't you worry," replied Mrs. Cow, and she whisked a big horse fly
off her side with her long tail. "Don't you worry and don't you fret,
there'll be some clover blossoms yet."

So the little rabbit felt ever so much better and hopped away and by
and by he came across Old Mother Magpie. And he wasn't a bit pleased,
for she was always finding fault with him, and everybody else, for
that matter.

Yes, Old Mother Magpie made lots of trouble and Billy Bunny had never
liked her. But he couldn't get away without her seeing him, although
he tried his best.

"Good morning, Billy Bunny," said