^eer Ways of Brer Rabbit. 47 



frighten him, and find out what he is." Leaping 

 high, he strikes the ground sharply two or three 

 times with his padded hind foot ; then jumps up 

 quickly again to see the effect of his scare. Once 

 he succeeded very well, when he crept up close 

 behind me, so close that he didn't have to spring up 

 to see the effect. I fancy him chuckling to himself 

 as he scurried off after my sudden start. 



That was the first time that I ever heard Bunny's 

 challenge. It impressed me at the time as one of his 

 most curious pranks ; the sound was so big and 

 heavy for such a little fellow. Since then I have 

 heard it frequently; and now sometimes when I 

 stand at night in the forest and hear a sudden heavy 

 thump in the underbrush, as if a big moose were 

 strikina; the ground and shaking;; his antlers at me, 

 it does n't startle me in the least. It is only Br'er 

 Rabbit trying to frighten me. 



The next night Bunny played us another trick. 

 Before Simmo went to sleep he always took off his 

 blue overalls and put them under his head for a 

 pillow. That was only one of Simmo's queer ways. 

 While he was asleep the rabbits came into his little 

 commoosic, dragged the overalls out from under his 

 head, and nibbled them full of holes. Not content 

 with this, they played with them all night; pulled 

 them around the clearing, as threads here and there 



