Now I guess Little Jack Rabbit and Uncle John Hare, the nice old
gentleman bunny, have had plenty of time since I wrote the last story to
think what they would rather have from the pack, which the funny little
old man had untied as he rode along with them in the Bunnymobile.
"Now tell me what you'd like," he said again.
"I'll take a diamond pin," said the old gentleman rabbit.
"Give me a watch," cried the little bunny.
"A gold ring will suit me," said the little pig. "I can wear it like an
earring in my nose."
"I'd like a purple velvet vest," said Prof. Jim Crow; "it will go very
nicely with my black swallow-tail coat."
Then the funny little old man pulled out his hand, and, would you
believe it? he handed Little Jack Rabbit a diamond pin. And then he put
his hand in the bag again and drew out a watch, a ring, and a lovely
purple vest.
"Goodness gracious me, but you are generous," said Uncle John Hare. "How
can we ever repay you?"
"I will tell you," answered the little old man. "And I hope you will be
willing to do what I ask."
"Oh, dear me," thought Little Jack Rabbit, "I know he's going to ask us
to do something dangerous."
"In yonder forest," said the little old man, "lives an old witch who
keeps in a wicker cage a lovely bird. Now this little bird is really my
daughter, but the wicked witch has cast a spell over her. And the only
way she can be set free is for someone to touch her with a little blue
flower which grows all by itself near a big oak tree, not far from
here."
"I will fly away and bring back the flower," said Professor Jim Crow.
"Now then," said the funny little old man, "I will tell you what to do.
The little pig must go around to the back of the witch's hut and dig up
her garden, and when she runs out to send him away, you two rabbits hop
up on the porch and carry off the cage. And as soon as you have it safe
in the Bunnymobile, come back to me. I will wait for you here."
Well, by this time, as Prof. Jim Crow had flown after the flower, the
two little rabbits and the pig started off for the witch's hut and by
and by, after a while, they stopped in the wood and got out. And when
they were quite near, the little pig ran around to the back and began to
dig up the garden.
Pretty soon, the old witch ran out of the back door to chase the pig and
by this time Little Jack Rabbit had placed the birdcage in the
Bunnymobile. But, oh dear me. Just as he and his uncle were driving away
they heard a dreadful scream, and in the next story I'll tell you what
happened after that.
THE MAGIC FLOWER
"Come back, come back with my pretty bird,
Or I'll change you both into a snake.
How dare you act like a couple of thieves
And my little pet blue bird take?"
And then the witch gave a dreadful scream, and jumping on her
broom-stick flew after Little Jack Rabbit and Uncle John Hare.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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