MooNEvl THK KABBIT (iOKS Dl'CK HUNTING 207 



somo hark from a sapliiiy ami made hiiiiscU' a iioo.sc. "Now,"' ho said, 

 "Just watch me;" and ho divod in and swam a little way uiidor the 

 water until he was nearly ohokiny and had to come up to the top to 

 hroatlie. He went undoi' again and came up again a litth^ nearer to 

 the dueks. He took another breath and dived under, and this time ho 

 eame up among the dueks and threw the iioos(> over the head of one 

 and eaught it. The (hick struggled hard an<l tinally spi'ead its wings 

 and flew up from the water with tiie Ualjliit lianging on to tlie noose. 

 It flew on and on until at last the Kalihit could not hold on any 

 longer, but had to lot go and drop. As it happened, he fell into a tali, 

 hollow sycamore stump without any hole at the bottom to g(>t out 

 from, and there he stayed until ho was so hungry that ho had to eat 

 his own fur. as the rabl^it does over since when ho is starving. After 

 several days, when he was very weak witli hunger, he heard eiiildren 

 playing outside around the trees. He began to sing: 



Cut a door and hjok at me; 



I'm the prettiest thing you ever did see. 



The children ran home and told their father, who came and began 

 to cut a hole in the tree. As ho chopped away the Raiabit inside kept 

 singing, '' Cut it larger, .so you can .see me better; I'm .so pretty." They 

 made the hole larger, and then the Rabbit told them to stand back so 

 that the}^ could take a good look as he came out. They stood away 

 back, and the Rabl)it watched his chance and jumpt'd out and got away. 



i;. HOW THE RABBIT STOLE THE OTTERS COAT 



The animals were of different sizes and wore coats of various colors 

 and patterns. Some wore long fur and others wore short. Some had 

 rings on their tails, and some had no tails at all. Some had coats of 

 brown, others of black or yellow. They were always disputing about 

 tlieir good looks, so at last they agreed to hold a council to decide wlio 

 had the finest coat. 



They had lieard a great deal about the Otter, wlio lived so far up the 

 creek tiiat he s(ddom came down to visit the othei' animals. It was said 

 that lie had the finest coat of all. hut no one knew just what it was like, 

 ijocauso it was a long time since anyone; liad seen him. They did not 

 oven know exactly w'here he lived — only the general direction: l)ut 

 they knew he would come to the council when the word got out. 



Now the Ral)hit wanted th(> verdict for himself, so when it began to 

 look as if it might go to tiio Otter he studietl up apian to ch(>at him out 

 of it. He asked a few sly questions until he learned what trail the 

 Otter would take to get to the c(;uncil place. Then, without saying any- 

 thing, he wont on ahead and after foui' da^'s' travel he met the Otter 

 and knew him at once by his beautiful coat of .soft dark-brown fur. 

 The Otter was glad to see him and asked him where he was going. 



