might have lost his way. And then again, maybe not, for he
was a pretty bright little bunny and like all the Forest Folk, knew how
to take care of himself. At the same time, it's nice to have a lantern
on a dark night. One might, you know, stumble into a deep hole.

When they reached the Old Bramble Patch, the little rabbit said: "I'd
ask you in, only I'm afraid mother's asleep."

"Thank you just the same," answered the kind Fireflies. "We are glad to
have helped you with our little lanterns," and they flew away to the
Sunny Meadow to wink and blink like little stars among the tall grasses.

The little rabbit opened the door and hopped softly up to his room and
was soon fast asleep in his comfortable bed.

BAD NEWS

It's really too bad that the Miller's Boy
Should be snooping around with his gun.
Why doesn't he stay in the Old Mill all day
And leave little folks to their fun?

That's what the Little People of the Shady Forest and the Sunny Meadow
thought. You see, the Miller's Boy had very little to do just now, for
the farmers were busy in the fields and the corn wasn't ready to be
ground into meal. So all the Miller's Boy had to do was to attend to a
few chores and then get out his gun and go hunting. And of course all
the little four-footed and feathered people were dreadfully afraid of
that great noisy gun.

"Look here," said Mrs. Rabbit, one day to her little son, "you had
better be careful. You can't run faster than a bullet, you know. It's
all very well to run away from Danny Fox and Mr. Wicked Weasel, or to
dodge from under Hungry Hawk, but a bullet is a different thing," and
the kind lady bunny patted her small son on the left ear and gave him
a piece of cherry pie.

Well, as soon as the pie was gone, Little Jack Rabbit hopped out of the
Old Bramble Patch, clipperty clip, lipperty lip, and pretty soon he met
Chippy Chipmunk and Woody Chuck in the Shady Forest.

"Mother says a bullet goes faster than Danny Fox," explained the little
bunny, and as everybody in the Shady Forest knew Mrs. Rabbit never told
anything that wasn't true, as Grandmother Magpie did, for instance,
these two little friends looked very serious. Yes, indeed, they looked
serious. They began to feel that the Miller's Boy was a dangerous
person.

"Let's tell all our friends," said Woody Chuck, so off the three started
and by and by, not so very far, they came to the Shady Forest Pond where
Busy Beaver lived.