Latest / Timeless Rudyard Kipling Stories / Flop Ear, the Funny Rabbit-Richard Barnum

Transcript

Flop Ear, the Funny Rabbit-Richard Barnum · Timeless Rudyard Kipling Stories

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter one of Flopier the Funny Rabbit. This is a
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: For more information or a volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Flopier the Funny Rabbit by Richard Barnum, Chapter one, Flopier,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Here's a noise. Once upon a time, not so very
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: many years ago, a family of rabbits lived in the
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: woods near the top of a mountain. There were six
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: in the family, counting Flopier the Funny Rabbit, And I
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: speak of him first because this story is going to
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: be mostly about him and his adventures or what happened
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: to flop heer. Besides Flopier, there was his mother, Missus Bunny,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: his father Mister Bunny, and Lady Munch, who was the grandmother.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: The reason the grandmother had that name was because she
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: always made her mouth go in such a queer wabbling
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: way when she munched or chewed the cabbages or the
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: k carrots. Then there was Pink Nose, a brother to
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: flop Ear and snuggle a little rabbit. Snuggle was called
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: that because she always wanted to cuddle up or snuggle
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: close to her mother and you can easily guess why
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: pink Nose had his name. Yes, you have guessed it.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: His nose was as pink as a baby's toes. And
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: the reason Floppier had his name was because one of
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: his ears flopped over to one side, as if it
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: were going to fall off his head, But of course
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: it never did. The two ears of most rabbits stand
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: up straight when they are not stretched back along their backs.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: But when Flopier wanted to put both his ears up straight,
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: only one would go, and the other one dropped down
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: in a queer way. Oh, Flopier, you are such a
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: funny little white rabbit. Lady Munch, his grandmother, would say, funny,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: how is that? The little boy bunny would ask, why
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: you look so funny? The old lady rabbit would answer,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: I always want to laugh when I see you. Well,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: is that a bad thing or a good thing? Flopier
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: would ask, Oh, it's a very good thing, said Lady Munch.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: To make rabbit folk laugh is to make them happy
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: so they forget their troubles, and that is always good.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: What are troubles, Flopier questioned, You will find out soon
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: enough without my telling you, answered the grandmother bunny, be
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: happy while you can in your home in the woods,
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: or you may not always be here, why not, asked Flopier.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: But just then his grandmother had to go down into
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: the borough or underground house to help missus Bunny make
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: the beds. Oh, you needn't laugh. Rabbits have beds in
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: their underground homes as well as you children have, only
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: of course, their beds are not the same as you goers.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: The beds in Flopier's home were just bunches of soft
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: grass and leaves piled together, and sometimes the rabbits use
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: the soft white cotton from inside the milkweed plant. These
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: beds had to be stirred up, fluffed, and made soft
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: by the rabbits once in a while, and that is
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: what Lady Munch and missus Bunny were doing. Troubles, eh,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: thought Floppier.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: I wonder what they.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Can be, And I wonder if I shall ever go
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: away from these woods. Well, I'll be happy while I'm
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: here anyhow, And now I guess I'll go and get
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: pink nose and snuggle and have some fun. Rabbits have
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: fun by themselves and with other animals, just as you
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: children do, and rabbits can think and talk. Of course,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: they can't talk as we do, but they can talk
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: among themselves and with other animals, and very often they
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: know what you say to them, just as your kitten
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: knows enough to come when you call her to dinner,
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: or as your dog knows enough to carry your books
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: from school when you put them in his mouth. In
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: this story, I say that flop Ears said something or
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: thought something. I mean he did it in a rabbit way,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: just as your cat and dog talked together in their languages.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: For some cats and dogs are good friends. You know,
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: there was a dog named Down who once ran away.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: He and Blackie, a lost cat, were really good friends,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: as you know if you've read the books about them.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: I spoke about flop Ears living in a burrow or
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: underground house. It may seem strange to hear of a
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: house underground, but there are such places, sometimes in gold
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: mines or coal mines. Men and horses stay underground for
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: a long time. And if they have a place underground,
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: why can't rabbits. Besides, boys like to dig caves or
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: holes underground and play they are living there. It's lots
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: of fun. I used to do it. Only, of course,
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: the caves that boys play in are larger than and
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: was Floppier's home. If you had walked through the woods
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: near the top of the mountain where the Bunny family lived,
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: I do not think you would have noticed the rabbit's home,
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: for all you would have seen would have been a
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: hole in the ground. But if you could once get
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: down in this hole, supposing you were small enough, you
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: would see many rooms and halls, almost like those in
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: your own home, only not so nice, of course, and
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: there would be no furniture in them. So Flopier and
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: his sister and brother lived in this underground home, which
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: Papa and Mamma Bunny had dug for themselves with their
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: feet just made for digging. And the reason the house
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: was built underground and had only a hole leading down
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: into it was so that no dogs or hunters would
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: see it, for dogs and hunters chase and shoot rabbits
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: to kill them and to eat. And if mister Bunny
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: had built his home on top of the ground as
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: your house is built, the hunters and dogs would more
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: easily see it. You can't be too careful about hunters
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: and dogs, said mister Bunny one day. No, indeed, you
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: can't added Lady Munch, it is dreadful to be shot.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: So flop Ear and Pink Nose and Snuggle lived together
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: in the woods and had lots of fun all day long.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: They would play down in the underground house or outside
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: near the front door. It was dark in their house,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: but the rabbits did not mind that. Rabbits are like
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: cats and can see quite well even on a dark night.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: And what they cannot see, they can smell. Rabbits and
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: other wild animals, you know, have very good noses for smelling.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: They can smell danger a good way off, and they
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: could smell their food and smell their way about, so
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: they will not run into things when they are hurrying
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: along in the night. Let's have a game of tag,
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: said flop Ear to Pink Nose as he saw his
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: brother lying in the sun on a pile of soft
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: leaves near the front door of the underground burrow. Come on,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: let's see if you can tag me. Of course, I
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: don't suppose rabbits are really called their game tag as
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: we do, but they have a game so much like
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: it that I have given it that name in order
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: that you would understand better if I gave you the
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: name in rabbit language. It would be so hard to
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: spell that I might break my typewriting machine by putting
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: it on paper, so it's easier to call it tag. Oh,
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: I don't want to play tag, said pink Nose. I
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: want to sleep. You have slept enough, laughed Floppier. Come
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: on and get up and run about. If you sleep
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: so much, you will grow to be a lazy rabbit,
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Lady Munch says, and then you can't run fast when
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: there is danger. There's no danger around here, said pink Nose,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: stretching out on the leg. I can't see any mother says.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: There may be danger when you can't see it. Put
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: in snuggle coming out of the underground house. Just then,
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: will you play a game of tag with me? Asked
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: Floppier of his sister. Yes, I will, she answered, Come on,
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: and away she ran. The two rabbits were soon jumping
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: about on the soft green moss and cuddling down among
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: the leaves of the woods. They would chase each other
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: and jump over one another, just as you have seen
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: dogs and cats play their game of tag. All this
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: while pink Nose was stretched out lazily in the sun
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: with his eyes closed. Pretty soon Flopier and Snuggle grew
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: tired of playing rabbit tag. Snuggle looked over at her
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: sleeping brother and said, with a laugh, let's play a
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: trick on him. Floppy sometimes she called her brother floppy
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: for short. What trick shall we play, asked Floppier. We'll
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: get a long stick, hide behind a stump and tickle him,
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: went on Snuggle. He won't see who it is, and
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: he'll be s all right, said flop Eer. So the
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: two bunnies got a long stick, and, hiding behind a
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: stump near which pink Nose was asleep, they reached over
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: and tickled him. Pretty soon pink Nose opened his eyes.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: He put up his pow to brush off what he
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: thought was a fly on his ear. Then he tried
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: to go to sleep again, but Flopier and Snuggle tickled
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: him once more. Ouch cried pink Nose, jumping up, Who's
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: doing that? He acted so queerly that Floppier could not
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: help laughing, and his brother heard him from behind the stump.
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: Ah it is you, is it, cried pink Nose. I'll
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: fix you for spoiling my sleep. He chased after flop ear,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: only in fun, of course, and around among the trees.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: The brother rabbits ran now pink nose is playing tag,
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: cried snuggle, and so he was, whether he wanted to
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: or not. Then the three rabbits played together, having lots
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: of fun in their own way, jumping over each other's
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: backs as boys play leap frog. Sometimes one would hide
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: down in among the leaves, and the others would look
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: for him. This was the game of hide and go seek,
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: you see. At different times, mister and Missus Bunny would
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: tell their children the things all rabbits must learn, just
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: as your folks tell you about cleaning your teeth and
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: washing your hands and faces. So the rabbit children were
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: told how to do things to keep themselves clean. Of course,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: they did not clean their teeth, but they washed themselves
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: with their tongues as cats do. And you must always
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: be careful when you go out in the woods. The
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: dogs do not see you and chase you, said Lady Munch.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: Always be careful about dogs and hunters with guns, added
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Papa Bunny. They are worse than dogs. The rabbit children
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: promised to be careful, and for several days after that,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: Flopier looked all about him when he went off in
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: the woods. One afternoon, he was hopping along quite a
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: distance from his underground house, when all at once he
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: heard a loud, banging noise. Why can that be thunder,
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: asked Flopier. It must be going to storm. He looked
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: up at the sky. There was not a cloud in it.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: The sun was shining brightly, and Flopier knew it never thundered,
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: or at least very seldom when the sun was shining.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: I wonder what that queer noise was, he asked. Then
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: he heard it again.
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: Bang.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: I'm going to run, thought Flopier. That may be danger.
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: I'll go home and tell the folks I heard a
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: queer noise. End of chapter number.
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: One, Chapter two of Flopier. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 12:03
  Speaker 4: All Libravox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
• 12:13
  Speaker 4: by Bethconnor www dot Bethconnor dot com. Flopier The Funny
• 12:20
  Speaker 4: Rabbit by Richard Barnum. Chapter two, Flopier finds something along
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: through the woods, ran Flopier the Funny Rabbit. Every now
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: and then he would look over his shoulder to see
• 12:35
  Speaker 4: if there was a storm.
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: Coming up.
• 12:37
  Speaker 4: For sometimes it thundered away off on the other side
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: of the mountain, and it would be a good while
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: before the rain came near the rabbit house. But this
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: time not a cloud came into the sky, and the
• 12:50
  Speaker 4: loud banging noise did not sound again. If that was thunder,
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: it was a very queer kind, Floppier said to himself,
• 12:59
  Speaker 4: I never before heard any like it. Along he hopped,
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: going faster and faster, until a little way ahead of
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: him in the woods, he saw his brother pink Nose. Hello,
• 13:11
  Speaker 4: cried pink Nose. Why are you running so fast? Because
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: I heard a funny noise, answered Floppier, And I want
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: to tell mother and father about it. I don't hear
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: any noise, said pink Nose. He sat up on his
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: hind legs and listened, as all rabbits do. No, I
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: can't hear it now either, said Flopier. But I heard
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: it very plainly a while ago. Come on, let's run,
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: it may be danger. So Floppier and pink Nose ran
• 13:45
  Speaker 4: along together until in a little while, not far from
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: their home, they saw Snuggle, who was poking about among
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: the leaves. What are you looking for, Snuggle asked Flopier
• 13:57
  Speaker 4: for some sweet roots to eat, answered the little sister rabbit.
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: But why are you two running? She asked in bunny language.
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: Flop Ear heard a funny noise, said pink Nose. He
• 14:11
  Speaker 4: is going to tell Papa and Mama about it, and
• 14:13
  Speaker 4: I'm going with him. It may be a danger noise,
• 14:17
  Speaker 4: such as Grandma Munch tells about, added flop Ear. If
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: it's a danger, I'm not going to stay here, Snuggle cried,
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: I'll go with you. So the three little rabbits ran
• 14:30
  Speaker 4: along together, and they soon reached the underground house. Lady
• 14:34
  Speaker 4: Munch was sitting at the front door looking all around.
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: She had just finished making up the leaf beds and
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: she wanted to come out in the air. Why what's
• 14:45
  Speaker 4: the matter, children, she asked, as she saw flop Ear,
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: Pink Nose and Snuggle running towards her.
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: What has happened?
• 14:53
  Speaker 4: Flop Ear heard a queer noise, cried Snuggle and pink
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: Nose together. Why what sort of noise was it, asked
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: Lady Munch, chewing on a bit of carrot. It was
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: a loud noise, answered Floppier. It went bang bang two times,
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: just like that. Oh my goodness, cried lady Munch, I
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: know what that noise was. Quick down into the burrow,
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: all of you. She fairly pushed the three Rabbit children
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: into the hole in the ground, and she ran down herself.
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: Oh I do hope your father and mother are safe,
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: said lady Munch, when they were all in the underground house.
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: I wish they were home. Why was that noise so dangerous,
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: asked pink Nose. Was it thunder? Floppier demanded. Indeed, it
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: was a dangerous noise, And it was not thunder, said
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: the grandmother. It was a hunter man shooting a gun. Well,
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: I know that sound. I have been shot at many times.
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: It's it's a good thing you were not shot, Floppier.
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: A hunter man with a gun?
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: Was that what made the noise?
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: Asked Snuggle, and she cuddled up close to her nice grandmother.
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: That's what it was, went the old lady Rabbit. There
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: are hunters in our woods, but so far none of
• 16:19
  Speaker 4: them have come near our home, and I hope they
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: do not. Then I did right to run away from
• 16:26
  Speaker 4: the noise, did I, grandmother, asked Floppier. You certainly did,
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: little boy, Always run when you hear that gun binging noise.
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: I hope your father and mother will be able to
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: run away from it. I wish they were home. Just
• 16:42
  Speaker 4: then there was a sound at the door of the
• 16:45
  Speaker 4: underground house, and the rabbits in it were much afraid
• 16:49
  Speaker 4: until they saw it was missus Bunny coming home. Oh,
• 16:53
  Speaker 4: I'm so glad you are safe, exclaimed Lady Munch. Did
• 16:58
  Speaker 4: you see anything of mister Bunny? Why no, I didn't,
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: answered missus Bunny. I was out looking for some cabbage,
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: but I could not find any. But what is the
• 17:09
  Speaker 4: matter and why are you all so frightened? Floppier heard
• 17:14
  Speaker 4: a gun shooting noise, answered Pink Nose. That means there
• 17:20
  Speaker 4: are hunters in the woods, added Lady Munch. Oh, I
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: do hope mister Bunny will get home safely. Just then
• 17:28
  Speaker 4: there came another sound at the door of the underground house,
• 17:31
  Speaker 4: and everyone was frightened until it was seen that it
• 17:35
  Speaker 4: was mister Bunny himself coming home. And he came in
• 17:38
  Speaker 4: a hurry too. Oh my, such a time, panted the
• 17:43
  Speaker 4: father rabbit, lying down in a pile of soft leaves.
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: Such a time I had a time, too, Floppier said.
• 17:51
  Speaker 4: I heard a gun banging noise in the woods, and
• 17:54
  Speaker 4: I ran home. I heard it too, said his father.
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: That is why I ran. A hunter man shot his
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: gun at me, but he did not hit me. Oh,
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: I am so glad of that, exclaimed missus Bunny. If
• 18:10
  Speaker 4: you should be shot and killed, I don't know what
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: we would do. We must all stay down here underground
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: until night, said Lady Munch, who, being an old rabbit,
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: knew much about keeping out of danger. When it is night,
• 18:24
  Speaker 4: the hunter will have gone home and it will be
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: safe for us to go out. So the rabbits stayed
• 18:31
  Speaker 4: down in their underground house, listening for another sound of
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: the gun, which Floppier, hearing for the first time in
• 18:38
  Speaker 4: his life, had thought was thunder. But the hunter did
• 18:41
  Speaker 4: not find the rabbit burrow, and no more banging sounds
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: were heard. After a while, mister Bunny poked his head
• 18:49
  Speaker 4: a little way out of the hole. Is it all right,
• 18:52
  Speaker 4: Floppier asked, Yes, it's all right now, answered Papa Bunny.
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: It's getting dark and we can soon go out to
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: get something to eat. So the rabbits did, and no
• 19:04
  Speaker 4: hunter shot them that time. For a week after that,
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: every time Floppier, Snuggle and Pink Nose went out into
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: the woods, they would listen for any sound that might
• 19:14
  Speaker 4: be a hunter's gun. Once Floppier thought he heard it,
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: and he ran, But this time it really was thunder,
• 19:22
  Speaker 4: and soon it rained, and he had to hurry home,
• 19:25
  Speaker 4: getting all wet. But with his thick fur he did
• 19:30
  Speaker 4: not mind. It is hard to tell a hunter's gun
• 19:34
  Speaker 4: from thunder, thought Floppier. Not far from where Floppier lived
• 19:39
  Speaker 4: in the wood was a farm, and on the farm
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: was a pigpen. Once, when there was none of the
• 19:45
  Speaker 4: farm people about, Floppier and Pink Nose went close to
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: the pigpen. They could look in through the cracks and
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: the board pen and see nine pigs. Two of the
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: pigs were large and the other seven were small, and
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: one little had a funny squinting eye. So when he
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: looked out at Flopier and pink Nose, they.
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: Had to laugh. What are you laughing at, asked.
• 20:09
  Speaker 4: The little pig, who could speak in the language understood
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: by all animals. What is the matter? It's you, answered Flopier.
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: You have such a funny squint. Well, squinty is my name,
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: said the little pig. They name me that because of
• 20:25
  Speaker 4: my eye. Don't you like it? Oh? Yes, answered pink Nose.
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: I think it's a pretty name, and we didn't really
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: mean to laugh at you, exclaimed Flopier. You see, I
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: have a funny ear, and I'm named after that. Oh
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: I don't mind being laughed at, Squinty said quickly. I'm
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: used to it. Whenever the folks come look down in
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: my pen, they laugh at me too, and my rabbit
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: friends laugh at me, said Flopier. So it is all
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: the same. Do you like it in the pen, asked
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: pink Nose. It seems so open where everyone can look
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: in on you. Oh yes, we all like it here,
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: said Squinty. We have lots of fun. We play and
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: scratch each other's backs. Did you ever have your back
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: scratched little rabbits? Oh no, never, said Flopier. But sometimes
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: mother rubs my ears, and I like that. I guess
• 21:26
  Speaker 4: it's all the same, Squinty said, trying to turn around
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: to look at the curl in his tail. Then the
• 21:32
  Speaker 4: bunnies said goodbye to the little pigs and ran on.
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: But if you would like to know more about Squinty,
• 21:39
  Speaker 4: you may read of him in a book like this
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: one called Squinty the Comical Pig His Many Adventures. I
• 21:48
  Speaker 4: shouldn't like to be a pig, should you, asked Flopier
• 21:52
  Speaker 4: of his brother pink Nose, as they hopped along together.
• 21:56
  Speaker 4: I don't believe I should, answered the other bunny. I
• 21:59
  Speaker 4: think it's more fun to be a rabbit. Flopier lived
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: with his brother, his sister, his father, mother, and Lady
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: Munch in the woods. For some time, the rabbits heard
• 22:11
  Speaker 4: no more gun sounds, and they were hoping the hunters
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: had gone away and would not come back. Flopier and
• 22:18
  Speaker 4: the other two little rabbits had much fun and many
• 22:22
  Speaker 4: good times. Sometimes Floppier would dig a hole in the ground,
• 22:26
  Speaker 4: which he would cover quickly with his fore paws, and
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: then he would hide himself in it, covering himself up
• 22:32
  Speaker 4: with leaves. Then when his brother or sister came along,
• 22:37
  Speaker 4: he would suddenly jump out and cry boo at them
• 22:41
  Speaker 4: in a rabbit talk, just as sometimes you hide at
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: the bottom of the stairs and pretend to scare your
• 22:46
  Speaker 4: father or big brother as he comes down. Often, Floppier,
• 22:51
  Speaker 4: Snuggle and pink Nose would go off through the woods
• 22:54
  Speaker 4: to find nice things to eat, sweet roots, wild carrots,
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: or berries. I do wish I could find some cabbage,
• 23:03
  Speaker 4: said mister Bunny as he came home one day. I
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: have looked all over for some cabbage growing that I
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: might to bring back some of that sweet, juicy leaves.
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: But I cannot find any. I could not, either, though
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: I looked in many places, said his wife. The next day,
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: when Floppier went out by himself, as he often did,
• 23:26
  Speaker 4: he said, I am going to look for a field
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: of cabbages. If I could find some and bring it home,
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: how nice it would be. Along and along he hopped,
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: and all at once he sniffed the air and smelled
• 23:41
  Speaker 4: something nice. Ha, that smells like cabbage, he thought, for
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: he had once tasted and smelled it. I believe I
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: am near a cabbage field. He went on a little
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: farther until he came to a fence. There was a
• 23:57
  Speaker 4: hole under it, and when Floppy had crawled through that,
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: he was in a big field where cabbages were growing.
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: Oh isn't this fine?
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: Said Flopier to himself. I have found the cabbage, just
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: what Papa and Mama were looking for. I'll take some home.
• 24:17
  Speaker 4: End of chapter two. Recording by Bethconnor www dot Bethconnor
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: dot com. Chapter three of Flopier the Funny Rabbit. This
• 24:35
  Speaker 4: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
• 24:44
  Speaker 4: LibriVox dot org. Recording by Bethconnor www dot Bethconnor dot com.
• 24:53
  Speaker 4: Flopier The Funny Rabbit by Richard Barnum, Chapter three, Flopier
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: is law Under the fence, crawled Floppier, and running up
• 25:06
  Speaker 4: to where a head of cabbage was growing, a little
• 25:09
  Speaker 4: white rabbit began nibbling the tender green leaves. Oh how
• 25:14
  Speaker 4: good that tastes, he said to himself. I'll eat my
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: share here and carry some to the folks at home.
• 25:22
  Speaker 4: I can tell them where the field is, and they
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: can come and get more for themselves. Floppier was nibbling
• 25:29
  Speaker 4: away at the cabbage, which to him was as good
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: as ice cream er lollipops are to you, and the
• 25:35
  Speaker 4: little rabbit was wondering how many leaves he could carry home,
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: when all at once he heard a barking sound.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: Boo boo boo.
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: A dog, thought Floppier, quickly, sitting up on his hind legs. Oh,
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: the hunter man must be coming after me with his gun.
• 25:56
  Speaker 4: Floppier looked all about him to see which way he
• 25:59
  Speaker 4: could run to get away from the danger, as he
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: had been taught to do. But before he could jump
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: back under the fence, he saw coming towards him a big,
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: shaggy dog who was barking. Flopier started to hop away,
• 26:14
  Speaker 4: but he had no time. The dog was quickly standing
• 26:18
  Speaker 4: right over him. Oh please, don't bite me, begged Flopier
• 26:23
  Speaker 4: in animal language. Bite you. I wasn't going to bite you,
• 26:27
  Speaker 4: said the dog. I was just going to drive you
• 26:30
  Speaker 4: out of my master's cabbage patch. Come run along, now, rubbit, chup.
• 26:35
  Speaker 4: You can't stay here. All right, I'll go right away,
• 26:39
  Speaker 4: said Flopier, very thankful that the dog had not bitten him.
• 26:44
  Speaker 4: I'll go at once. But I was so hungry for cabbage,
• 26:48
  Speaker 4: and we haven't had any in a long while. I
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: was going to take a few leaves home, carrying them
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: in my mouth. Papa and Mamma had been looking everywhere
• 26:58
  Speaker 4: for cabbage, but they didn't find any. Sadly enough, Flopier
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: started out of the field. Hold on a minute, said
• 27:08
  Speaker 4: the dog, more kindly this time.
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: What is your name?
• 27:13
  Speaker 4: I am called Flopier, and I guess you can tell
• 27:16
  Speaker 4: why it's because one of my ears flops over. Yes,
• 27:20
  Speaker 4: I can see that, said the dog, and he waved
• 27:24
  Speaker 4: his tail now, which showed he was getting friendly. So
• 27:28
  Speaker 4: your name is Flopier, Eh, well mine is Don. I'm
• 27:32
  Speaker 4: glad to meet you, Don, and I hope you will
• 27:35
  Speaker 4: not tell your master, the hunter man, which way I
• 27:38
  Speaker 4: run when I go away. I do not want him
• 27:41
  Speaker 4: to chase me and shoot me. My master is not
• 27:44
  Speaker 4: a hunter, and just not shoot rabbits, said Don. But
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: wait a minute, you need not go away without some cabbage.
• 27:53
  Speaker 4: Oh do you really mean I may take some, asked
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: Floppier in delight.
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: Why, yes, take a few leaves. I guess my master
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: won't mind.
• 28:03
  Speaker 4: He tells me to keep watch over his cabbage field.
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: But I'm sure if he were here he'd let you
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: take a little, so i'll do the same. I'm sorry
• 28:12
  Speaker 4: I barked at you so crossly just now, but I
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: thought you were one of a lot of rabbits who
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: had come to take all the cabbages. Oh no, I
• 28:20
  Speaker 4: only want a few leaves, Floppier said, that will be
• 28:24
  Speaker 4: all right. Went on, don help yourself. I don't believe
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: I ever saw you before.
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: Did I?
• 28:31
  Speaker 4: I don't know, answered the rabbit. I'm sure I never
• 28:34
  Speaker 4: saw you until just now, and I'm glad your master
• 28:38
  Speaker 4: does not have a gun. I met a pig named
• 28:40
  Speaker 4: Squinty the other day, said the rabbit, as he began
• 28:43
  Speaker 4: eating more cabbage leaves. Yes, I know him, said Don.
• 28:48
  Speaker 4: He's a comical chap, isn't he. Indeed he is, answered Floppier.
• 28:55
  Speaker 4: He looks at you in such a funny way. The
• 28:58
  Speaker 4: dog and the rabbit talked together a little longer, and
• 29:02
  Speaker 4: then Don said, well, I must go back to the
• 29:05
  Speaker 4: house now. I'll see you again sometime, perhaps, that is,
• 29:09
  Speaker 4: if I don't run away as I once did.
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: Oh did you run away? Asked Flopier.
• 29:16
  Speaker 4: Yes, and many things happened to me. Tell me about them,
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: begged the funny little rabbit, who loved stories. Don told
• 29:26
  Speaker 4: about having gone away. But as this book is mostly
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: about Flopier, I'll just say that those of you who
• 29:34
  Speaker 4: wished to read about the kind dog may do so
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: in the volume named Don a Runaway Dog his many adventures.
• 29:42
  Speaker 4: When Flopier, after listening to Don's story, went back home,
• 29:46
  Speaker 4: the little rabbit took with him some cabbage leaves. Oh
• 29:50
  Speaker 4: where did you get them? Asked his mother? I am
• 29:54
  Speaker 4: so glad you found them. I get them in a field,
• 29:58
  Speaker 4: said Flopier. First a dog was going to chase me away,
• 30:03
  Speaker 4: but he did not and was kind to me, letting
• 30:06
  Speaker 4: me take some leaves. That's nice, said Lady Munch as
• 30:10
  Speaker 4: she nibbled a bit of sweet cabbage leaf. This will
• 30:14
  Speaker 4: make a very fine dinner for all of us. The
• 30:17
  Speaker 4: bunnies were very glad to get the cabbage, and a
• 30:21
  Speaker 4: few days later mister and Missus Bunny went to the
• 30:24
  Speaker 4: field which Floppier showed them. Don was there again, and
• 30:28
  Speaker 4: he was good to the rabbits, letting them take as
• 30:31
  Speaker 4: much cabbage as they wanted. And after all they didn't
• 30:35
  Speaker 4: take very much, and the man who owned the field
• 30:38
  Speaker 4: never missed it. If you didn't eat it, the worms
• 30:43
  Speaker 4: might get it, said Don kindly, so take as many
• 30:47
  Speaker 4: heads as you need. It was two or three days
• 30:50
  Speaker 4: after this that Floppier, going through the woods on a
• 30:54
  Speaker 4: short cut to the cabbage field, saw a black animal
• 30:57
  Speaker 4: walking along, an animal about as large as himself.
• 31:02
  Speaker 3: Oh, I wonder what that is, he said.
• 31:05
  Speaker 4: It looks so black that it may be something dangerous.
• 31:10
  Speaker 4: The other animal said mew mew, and asked, who are
• 31:14
  Speaker 4: you why I'm Floppier the funny rabbit, was the answer.
• 31:21
  Speaker 4: You do look funny, said the other animal, waving its tail.
• 31:25
  Speaker 4: Floppier's tail was so short he could only wiggle it.
• 31:29
  Speaker 4: What's your name, asked Floppier. My name is Blackie, and
• 31:33
  Speaker 4: I am a lost cat. Lost, asked Floppier. Yes, I
• 31:39
  Speaker 4: ran away from home and now I am rather sorry,
• 31:42
  Speaker 4: but I am trying to find my way back again. Oh,
• 31:46
  Speaker 4: I never run away from home, Floppier said, I like
• 31:50
  Speaker 4: it too much.
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: Well.
• 31:52
  Speaker 4: I liked my home too, said Blackie. But I wanted
• 31:56
  Speaker 4: to have some adventures and learn to become a good
• 31:59
  Speaker 4: fenced so I went away and got lost. Did you
• 32:04
  Speaker 4: have any adventures, asked Flopier. Oh, many of them, and
• 32:09
  Speaker 4: I may have more, answered the black cat. Tell me
• 32:13
  Speaker 4: about them, begged Flopier. And Blackie did. I have not
• 32:18
  Speaker 4: room for them here. But if you will get the
• 32:21
  Speaker 4: book called Blackie a Lost Cat, Her Many Adventures, you
• 32:25
  Speaker 4: may read about them for yourself. I like you, said Flopier,
• 32:29
  Speaker 4: as Blackie finished her story. I thought, at first, when
• 32:33
  Speaker 4: you told me you were a cat, that you might
• 32:35
  Speaker 4: bite me. Oh no, indeed, I wouldn't bite a rabbit.
• 32:40
  Speaker 4: Blackie said, that's what Don the runaway dog said, returned
• 32:45
  Speaker 4: the bunny. What do you know him, asked the black cat.
• 32:49
  Speaker 4: Why he's a friend of mine. I'm glad to know that,
• 32:54
  Speaker 4: cried Flopier. Don was very good to me. He'd let
• 32:58
  Speaker 4: me take cabbage. Yes, Don is a good dog, even
• 33:03
  Speaker 4: if you did run away. I know, Squinty the comical
• 33:07
  Speaker 4: pig too, went on Flopier.
• 33:09
  Speaker 3: Do you know him?
• 33:11
  Speaker 4: Well, I may have met him, Blackie said, but I
• 33:16
  Speaker 4: do not.
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 33:17
  Speaker 4: Just remember, I have had so many things happen to
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: me on my travels that I cannot remember them all.
• 33:25
  Speaker 4: You never met Dido the dancing Bear, did you?
• 33:29
  Speaker 3: Oh?
• 33:29
  Speaker 4: No, never, what a bear, cried Flopier.
• 33:33
  Speaker 3: I'd be afraid. Oh you needn't be.
• 33:37
  Speaker 4: Afraid of him. He's a good kind dancing bear, said
• 33:40
  Speaker 4: the cat. He lives in a cage in the circus,
• 33:44
  Speaker 4: and when some bad boys chased me, I ran under
• 33:47
  Speaker 4: the circus tent and hid in the straw in Dido's cage.
• 33:52
  Speaker 4: He must be a nice bear, Flopier said, he is,
• 33:56
  Speaker 4: replied the black cat. You like him if you ever
• 33:59
  Speaker 4: meet him. I hope I shall meet him, Floppier said
• 34:04
  Speaker 4: the rabbit, and the cat talked together a little longer.
• 34:08
  Speaker 4: Where are you going, finally, asked Blackie to get something
• 34:13
  Speaker 4: to eat. Floppier answered, first, I will go to the
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: cabbage field, and then I may find some carrots. Did
• 34:21
  Speaker 4: you ever eat carrots? Never, answered Blackie. What do you eat?
• 34:27
  Speaker 4: Floppier inquired, oh, meat and milk and fish when I
• 34:32
  Speaker 4: can get them. Well, I hope you get them, said Floppier,
• 34:36
  Speaker 4: as he hopped on towards the cabbage field. And I
• 34:40
  Speaker 4: hope you will soon find your home. I hope so too,
• 34:44
  Speaker 4: returned Blackie. Then the lost cat went off by herself,
• 34:48
  Speaker 4: and in her own book you may read about her
• 34:51
  Speaker 4: after you have finished this one. Floppier was eating some
• 34:55
  Speaker 4: cabbage when along came down. H No, exclaimed the kind dog. Hello,
• 35:02
  Speaker 4: answered Flopier. I just met a friend of yours who
• 35:07
  Speaker 4: wasn't Don, inquired Tom Tom the Jolly Elephant, or Mapple
• 35:12
  Speaker 4: the Merry Monkey. Neither one. I don't know either of them,
• 35:16
  Speaker 4: answered Flopier. It was Blackie, a lost cat. Oh, yes,
• 35:21
  Speaker 4: I know her quite well, said Don. She is a
• 35:24
  Speaker 4: nice cat. I like her, so do, I said Flopier.
• 35:29
  Speaker 4: Will you have some cabbage? No, thank you, I never
• 35:32
  Speaker 4: eat it, Don said. Two or three days after this,
• 35:37
  Speaker 4: something dreadful happened to Flopier. It happened to the other
• 35:42
  Speaker 4: rabbits too, and made them very sad, at least for
• 35:45
  Speaker 4: a time. So I'll tell you about it. This is
• 35:49
  Speaker 4: how it was. They had all been away together getting
• 35:53
  Speaker 4: some cabbage in the field. That Don watched over the dog,
• 35:56
  Speaker 4: letting them take as much as they could eat. And
• 35:59
  Speaker 4: now they were on their way home. All of a
• 36:02
  Speaker 4: sudden there sounded a loud noise. Bang, bang, it went twice.
• 36:08
  Speaker 4: Oh my goodness, cried Papa Bunny. It's a hunter man
• 36:12
  Speaker 4: with a gun. Oh my run, everybody run and hide,
• 36:17
  Speaker 4: and don't all run together, added Lady Munch. Scatter, some
• 36:21
  Speaker 4: go one way and some another. If we all keep together,
• 36:25
  Speaker 4: the hunter man will see us more easily. Bang went
• 36:29
  Speaker 4: the gun again, and then a dog not dawn barked.
• 36:33
  Speaker 4: Floppier looked over his shoulder. He saw a man with
• 36:37
  Speaker 4: a smoking gun running towards him. Floppier ducked under a
• 36:40
  Speaker 4: bush to hide, and oh how fast he ran. He
• 36:44
  Speaker 4: wanted to get away. Floppier could see Lady Munch, his
• 36:48
  Speaker 4: papa and his mamma, his brother, and his sister also
• 36:52
  Speaker 4: running under the bushes. The man and the dog ran
• 36:55
  Speaker 4: after them. On and on hopped Floppier as fast as
• 36:59
  Speaker 4: he could go, until he was too tired to run
• 37:03
  Speaker 4: any further. Then he stopped and listened. He could not
• 37:07
  Speaker 4: hear the dog barking now, nor could he hear the
• 37:10
  Speaker 4: banging noise of the gun. Flopier came out from under
• 37:15
  Speaker 4: the bush and looked around. He was in a part
• 37:18
  Speaker 4: of the woods he had never seen before. It was
• 37:21
  Speaker 4: all strange to him. I guess I had better get
• 37:24
  Speaker 4: back to my home, he thought. The others will be
• 37:27
  Speaker 4: there when I get there. Flopier started off, carefully, looking
• 37:32
  Speaker 4: on all sides for danger. I guess I got safely
• 37:36
  Speaker 4: away from that hunterman with his dog and his gun,
• 37:39
  Speaker 4: thought Flopier. I hope the others did too. Oh dear,
• 37:45
  Speaker 4: I suppose it is right for hunters to chase us,
• 37:48
  Speaker 4: but it is very hard. On and on went Floppier.
• 37:53
  Speaker 4: Surely I ought to be near my home now, he thought.
• 37:57
  Speaker 4: He looked all around, but he could not see the
• 38:00
  Speaker 4: hole in the ground that was the front door to
• 38:02
  Speaker 4: his underground house. Oh, dear, said Flopier, I wonder if
• 38:08
  Speaker 4: I am lost. He hopped on a little farther. The
• 38:12
  Speaker 4: woods were still strange to him. He had never been
• 38:15
  Speaker 4: in that part before. Yes, I am lost, said poor
• 38:20
  Speaker 4: Flopier after a bit.
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: I don't know where my home is.
• 38:25
  Speaker 4: Oh I am lost. What shall I do? End of
• 38:31
  Speaker 4: chapter three. Recording by Bethconnor www dot Bethconnor dot com.
• 38:44
  Speaker 4: Chapter four of flop Ear The Funny Rabbit. This is
• 38:48
  Speaker 4: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 38:53
  Speaker 4: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 38:59
  Speaker 4: Recording Byconnor www dot Bethconnor dot com. Chapter four, Flopier
• 39:08
  Speaker 4: in the hay, the little lost Rabbit sat up on
• 39:12
  Speaker 4: his hind legs and looked all around him. He was
• 39:15
  Speaker 4: in the middle of a big wood. And while he
• 39:19
  Speaker 4: liked the trees, the moss, and the fallen leaves which
• 39:22
  Speaker 4: rustled under his feet, still Floppier liked best his own wood,
• 39:28
  Speaker 4: where he had always lived. He did not know this
• 39:31
  Speaker 4: wood at all. I wonder where pink Nose and snugl are,
• 39:35
  Speaker 4: thought Floppier. I wonder if they are lost as I am. Then,
• 39:41
  Speaker 4: even though he was lost, Floppier could not help feeling hungry,
• 39:45
  Speaker 4: And as he saw before him a tree, the bark
• 39:49
  Speaker 4: of which he knew was good to eat, he nibbled
• 39:52
  Speaker 4: some of it. That makes me feel a little better,
• 39:55
  Speaker 4: he said to himself. Now I will try once more
• 39:58
  Speaker 4: to find my house and my father and mother again.
• 40:03
  Speaker 4: Floppy are set off through the woods, looking all about
• 40:06
  Speaker 4: him for a sight of the open door of his
• 40:09
  Speaker 4: burrow underground. But though he saw holes where the groundhogs
• 40:13
  Speaker 4: or woodchecks lived in fields near the woods, and though
• 40:17
  Speaker 4: he saw some holes in which snakes crawled, he did
• 40:21
  Speaker 4: not see his own home, and it made him lonesome.
• 40:25
  Speaker 4: Then he happened to remember a way rabbits have of
• 40:28
  Speaker 4: calling one another by thumping their feet on the ground.
• 40:32
  Speaker 4: If you try that, you can signal just as rabbits do,
• 40:36
  Speaker 4: though you may not be able to make your thumbs
• 40:38
  Speaker 4: on the ground mean anything. If you go out in
• 40:41
  Speaker 4: the yard some warm summer day and put your ear
• 40:44
  Speaker 4: to the ground, and then some other boy or girl
• 40:47
  Speaker 4: some distance off will pound his heel on the earth,
• 40:51
  Speaker 4: you can hear it quite plainly. That is the way
• 40:54
  Speaker 4: rabbits call one another when they are too far off
• 40:57
  Speaker 4: to talk. For a rabbit does not have a very
• 41:00
  Speaker 4: loud voice, and a rabbit does not need to put
• 41:03
  Speaker 4: his ear to the ground to listen to the thumps
• 41:05
  Speaker 4: of another rabbit. He can hear well enough without that.
• 41:10
  Speaker 4: That's what I'll do, thought Flopier. I'll give a pounding
• 41:14
  Speaker 4: call and Papa or Mama may be near enough to hear. Oh,
• 41:18
  Speaker 4: I hope they are, for I want to go home.
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: Flopier raised himself on his hind feet and then thumped
• 41:25
  Speaker 4: with his front feet two or three times, making a
• 41:28
  Speaker 4: sound like a little drum. Then Floppier listened, he did
• 41:33
  Speaker 4: not hear any other thumps in answer to his own. Well,
• 41:38
  Speaker 4: I'll go on a little way and try once more,
• 41:42
  Speaker 4: he said to himself. Maybe they will hear this time.
• 41:46
  Speaker 4: Once more, Flopier thumped on the ground, but though he
• 41:51
  Speaker 4: listened very sharply, all he could hear was the wind
• 41:55
  Speaker 4: blowing through the trees, and the dried relieves rustling as
• 41:59
  Speaker 4: he scampered through them. Oh, dear, thought poor Flopier, I.
• 42:04
  Speaker 3: Don't know what to do.
• 42:05
  Speaker 4: I surely am a lot worse than I ever was before. Once,
• 42:11
  Speaker 4: when he was a little baby rabbit, Flopier had wandered
• 42:14
  Speaker 4: a little way off from the burrow. His mother had
• 42:17
  Speaker 4: been with him, but he ran on ahead, and when
• 42:21
  Speaker 4: he looked back he could not see his mother nor
• 42:24
  Speaker 4: the burrow where he lived. He had been very much
• 42:28
  Speaker 4: frightened then, and he had started to cry, being only
• 42:33
  Speaker 4: a baby and much afraid of being lost. But then
• 42:36
  Speaker 4: his mother suddenly came running around a stump behind which
• 42:40
  Speaker 4: she had gone to get some nice red winter green berries,
• 42:44
  Speaker 4: and she dried the tears of Flopier on her soft fur,
• 42:47
  Speaker 4: and showed him that the burrow was only about two
• 42:50
  Speaker 4: jumps away, behind a big rock. I was only a
• 42:54
  Speaker 4: little bit lost that time, thought Flopier. But this time
• 42:59
  Speaker 4: I am lost a whole lot. I wish I had
• 43:02
  Speaker 4: not run so far from home. Why I'm a regular
• 43:05
  Speaker 4: runaway like don the dog, and I'm lost, just as
• 43:10
  Speaker 4: Blackie was. I told her I'd never run away from
• 43:13
  Speaker 4: my home, but I did. But I did not mean to,
• 43:18
  Speaker 4: went on Flopier. It was the hunter with his dog
• 43:21
  Speaker 4: and gun who drove me away from home. I'd never
• 43:24
  Speaker 4: run away from it myself, But what shall I do?
• 43:29
  Speaker 4: Flopier was tired from running so much and from thumping
• 43:33
  Speaker 4: on the ground, so when he found a place where
• 43:36
  Speaker 4: some soft moss grew, near a tree, he lay down
• 43:39
  Speaker 4: to rest, and all the while he wondered how he
• 43:43
  Speaker 4: was ever going to get home again. Then up in
• 43:47
  Speaker 4: the tree over his head, Flopier heard a bird singing, and,
• 43:52
  Speaker 4: as he could speak bird language as well as animal talk,
• 43:55
  Speaker 4: Floppier asked, little bird, do.
• 43:58
  Speaker 3: You know where my home is? I am lost?
• 44:01
  Speaker 4: Chirp, chirp, answered the little bird. No, I am sorry
• 44:05
  Speaker 4: to say I do not know where your home is.
• 44:08
  Speaker 3: But if you like, you may come in and.
• 44:10
  Speaker 4: Live in my house. And where is your house? Asked Flopier,
• 44:15
  Speaker 4: thinking he might stay there overnight, as it was now
• 44:18
  Speaker 4: getting rather dark. My home is a nice nest up
• 44:23
  Speaker 4: in this tree, chirped the bird. If you come up, though,
• 44:27
  Speaker 4: you must be very careful, for I have eggs in
• 44:30
  Speaker 4: my nest. What are you going to do with them?
• 44:33
  Speaker 4: Color them for Easter, asked Flopier. For being a rabbit,
• 44:38
  Speaker 4: he knew about easter eggs.
• 44:39
  Speaker 3: You see what color my nice.
• 44:43
  Speaker 4: Eggs, cried the bird. No, indeed, I am going to
• 44:48
  Speaker 4: hatch some little birdies out of them. Besides, my eggs
• 44:51
  Speaker 4: are colored already. They are a beautiful blue. If you
• 44:55
  Speaker 4: come up you can see them. If your eggs are blue.
• 45:00
  Speaker 4: Then you must be a robin bird, said Flopier. I
• 45:04
  Speaker 4: am was the answer. Are you coming up to stay
• 45:07
  Speaker 4: in my nest? But please be careful not to break
• 45:10
  Speaker 4: the eggs if you do?
• 45:13
  Speaker 3: No, thank you.
• 45:14
  Speaker 4: I cannot come up, said Flopier. It is very kind
• 45:18
  Speaker 4: of you to ask me, but I cannot climb a tree,
• 45:22
  Speaker 4: and besides, I am afraid I am too large to
• 45:25
  Speaker 4: fit in your nest without breaking the eggs. Well, perhaps
• 45:30
  Speaker 4: you are, the bird said, but I am sorry you
• 45:33
  Speaker 4: are lost. I'm sorry, too, said Flopier. Perhaps I can
• 45:38
  Speaker 4: fly around and look for your burrow, the robin bird said,
• 45:42
  Speaker 4: Shall I try, if you please, Floppier answered. So the
• 45:48
  Speaker 4: bird flew around through the woods, looking down on the ground,
• 45:51
  Speaker 4: trying to see Flopier's home, But she could not, for
• 45:55
  Speaker 4: the little rabbit had run very fast to get away
• 45:58
  Speaker 4: from the hunter and had traveled farther than he thought
• 46:02
  Speaker 4: he had.
• 46:03
  Speaker 3: No, I cannot find your home, I'm.
• 46:06
  Speaker 4: Sorry to say, said the bird, as she came back
• 46:09
  Speaker 4: to the tree under which Floppier was resting. I could
• 46:13
  Speaker 4: not see it anywhere. Never mind, you did the best
• 46:17
  Speaker 4: you could, and thank you, returned the rabbit. I'll run
• 46:21
  Speaker 4: along myself and see if I can find it. If
• 46:24
  Speaker 4: I can't, I suppose I shall have to stay out
• 46:27
  Speaker 4: in the woods all night. I do that myself up
• 46:31
  Speaker 4: in my nest, said the robin. So if you get lonesome,
• 46:36
  Speaker 4: come and sleep near this tree. I will thank you,
• 46:40
  Speaker 4: answered Flopier. Off you went again, and then all of
• 46:44
  Speaker 4: a sudden Flopier heard the dreadful banging noise of the
• 46:48
  Speaker 4: gun again, though it was not very close to him.
• 46:53
  Speaker 4: Oh there's that dreadful hunter once more, cried the little rabbit.
• 46:57
  Speaker 3: I must run on again.
• 47:00
  Speaker 4: Pretty soon Flopier was tired and he had to stop
• 47:03
  Speaker 4: to rest. He listened, but he did not hear the
• 47:07
  Speaker 4: gun again. It was almost dark now, and Flopier remembered
• 47:11
  Speaker 4: what his father had said, that the huntermen did not
• 47:14
  Speaker 4: stay out to shoot after dark. So I'll be all
• 47:18
  Speaker 4: right for a while, said Flopier. On and on he went, now,
• 47:23
  Speaker 4: and then, stopping to nibble on some sweet bark or
• 47:26
  Speaker 4: pick up a few berries. And pretty soon Floppier came
• 47:30
  Speaker 4: out of the woods and found himself in a field. Ha,
• 47:34
  Speaker 4: Maybe I can find some cabbages or carrots here, he thought.
• 47:39
  Speaker 4: But as soon as Floppier looked at the field, he
• 47:42
  Speaker 4: knew it was neither a cabbage nor a carrot field.
• 47:46
  Speaker 4: There was short, stubbly grass in the field. It was
• 47:49
  Speaker 4: what is called a meadow, like the one where the
• 47:52
  Speaker 4: sheep were, for which little boy Blue had to blow
• 47:56
  Speaker 4: his horn. In the middle of the field was something
• 47:59
  Speaker 4: that looked like a big hill or a small mountain.
• 48:03
  Speaker 4: I wonder what that is, said Flopier to himself. I
• 48:07
  Speaker 4: guess I'll hop over and take a look across the meadow.
• 48:11
  Speaker 4: He went, and when he came to the big pile
• 48:14
  Speaker 4: he found it was hay that had been caught and
• 48:16
  Speaker 4: stacked up, ready to be hauled into the barn. Ha Hey,
• 48:21
  Speaker 4: said Flopier. I can burrow under that and sleep tonight.
• 48:26
  Speaker 4: It will be a nice place and no hunter can
• 48:28
  Speaker 4: find me there. I can also eat some of the hay.
• 48:32
  Speaker 3: Hey.
• 48:33
  Speaker 4: Is grass dried, you know, and rabbits like to nibble
• 48:37
  Speaker 4: a little of it. So Flopier crawled under the sack
• 48:40
  Speaker 4: of hay, and after eating a little he felt sleepy
• 48:44
  Speaker 4: his eyes closed. End of chapter four recording by Bethconnor
• 48:51
  Speaker 4: www dot Bethconnor dot com. Chapter five A Flopier the
• 49:04
  Speaker 4: Funny Rabbit. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
• 49:09
  Speaker 4: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
• 49:14
  Speaker 4: please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Bethconnor www dot
• 49:20
  Speaker 4: Bethconnor dot com. Chapter five, Flopier and the Boy. Flopier
• 49:28
  Speaker 4: awoke in the morning feeling hungry. All he had to
• 49:32
  Speaker 4: do was reach out and eat part of his hay
• 49:35
  Speaker 4: bed in which he had slept. I think that was
• 49:38
  Speaker 4: rather funny. It isn't everyone who can get a breakfast
• 49:42
  Speaker 4: as easily as that. How would you like to reach
• 49:45
  Speaker 4: out in the morning when you wake up and eat
• 49:48
  Speaker 4: a part of the pillowcase, or a bit of the sheet,
• 49:51
  Speaker 4: and perhaps a nibble off one of the rosettes on
• 49:54
  Speaker 4: the bed quilt. I guess it would not taste so
• 49:57
  Speaker 4: good as your breakfast orange and oatmeal, well, would it?
• 50:01
  Speaker 5: No?
• 50:01
  Speaker 4: Indeed, But a rabbit is different. They like hay, and
• 50:07
  Speaker 4: they can sleep in it as well as eat it.
• 50:10
  Speaker 4: So Flopier had no trouble getting his breakfast, and he
• 50:14
  Speaker 4: knew that in the woods and fields all around him
• 50:17
  Speaker 4: grew many other things he could eat. So even though
• 50:21
  Speaker 4: I am lost, I shall not go hungry, thought Flopier.
• 50:25
  Speaker 4: But still, I don't want to be lost. I want
• 50:28
  Speaker 4: to find my home, my father and my mother and
• 50:32
  Speaker 4: snuggle and pink nose. I want to see my grandma
• 50:35
  Speaker 4: Lady Munch too. Oh how I wish that hunterman had
• 50:39
  Speaker 4: never come to our woods. But there was no use
• 50:43
  Speaker 4: in wishing that. Now Flopier was far away from home,
• 50:47
  Speaker 4: and he must do the best he could, either to
• 50:50
  Speaker 4: find his way back to it or to look for
• 50:52
  Speaker 4: a new home. It is summer now, thought the little rabbit,
• 50:57
  Speaker 4: and it will be all right to sleep out in
• 50:59
  Speaker 4: the fields or woods without going down into an underground burrow.
• 51:04
  Speaker 4: But if I do not find my home before cold
• 51:08
  Speaker 4: weather comes, I shall have to dig a new one
• 51:10
  Speaker 4: for myself. I wonder if I have forgotten how to
• 51:14
  Speaker 4: dig or burrow, as father calls it. I guess I'll
• 51:17
  Speaker 4: go out and try it.
• 51:18
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 51:20
  Speaker 4: Out from the warm little nest he had made for
• 51:23
  Speaker 4: himself in the hay came Flopier. He found a soft
• 51:26
  Speaker 4: place in the field and began to dig in the dirt,
• 51:29
  Speaker 4: pawing it under him in a pile by scratching with
• 51:32
  Speaker 4: his fore paws, almost as your dog does when he
• 51:36
  Speaker 4: feels like digging. I haven't forgotten my digging lessons, said Flopier,
• 51:42
  Speaker 4: So I will be all right when winter comes. But
• 51:45
  Speaker 4: it is a long way off yet. Now to try
• 51:49
  Speaker 4: again to find my home. He had just left the
• 51:52
  Speaker 4: spot where he had dug the little hole in the meadow,
• 51:55
  Speaker 4: when all at once he heard a dog barking. Ha, wonder
• 52:00
  Speaker 4: if that is Don or a hunter's dog, thought Flopier.
• 52:04
  Speaker 4: He looked quickly over his shoulder and saw a dog
• 52:07
  Speaker 4: running toward him. It was neither Don nor a hunter's dog,
• 52:11
  Speaker 4: but a strange one got out of this field, barked
• 52:15
  Speaker 4: the dog. Run away or I'll bite you, and he
• 52:19
  Speaker 4: spoke very crossly. My you are not as nice and
• 52:25
  Speaker 4: polite as Don was when he let me get the cabbage,
• 52:28
  Speaker 4: thought Floppier, as he bounded away. I'm not hurting your field.
• 52:33
  Speaker 4: I only dug a little hole in it and ate
• 52:35
  Speaker 4: some hay, and there is a whole mountain of it left.
• 52:40
  Speaker 4: Flopier did not stop to say this to the barking dog,
• 52:44
  Speaker 4: but spoke as he ran on, for the dog was
• 52:47
  Speaker 4: coming after him very fast. Indeed, bow wow, bow wow,
• 52:51
  Speaker 4: barked the dog.
• 52:53
  Speaker 3: I'll catch you, rabbit.
• 52:55
  Speaker 4: Oh, how no, you won't, answered Flopier, you can't catch me.
• 53:00
  Speaker 4: Rabbits can run and hop very fast, you know. But
• 53:05
  Speaker 4: of course Flopier was only a little fellow, not fully grown,
• 53:09
  Speaker 4: and the dog was a big chap. So the rabbit,
• 53:12
  Speaker 4: looking back, saw the dog was getting nearer and nearer.
• 53:17
  Speaker 4: I must fool him, said Floppier to himself. I must
• 53:21
  Speaker 4: run in the woods where he cannot see me. Then
• 53:25
  Speaker 4: he can only follow me by smelling. And when I
• 53:28
  Speaker 4: get a chance, I'll cross some water, and then the
• 53:31
  Speaker 4: dog can't even smell my steps. When dogs cannot see
• 53:36
  Speaker 4: rabbits or other animals they are chasing, they have to
• 53:39
  Speaker 4: go by smell. They put their nose to the ground
• 53:43
  Speaker 4: and snip very hard. And a dog's nose is so
• 53:47
  Speaker 4: good for smelling that he can tell just which way
• 53:50
  Speaker 4: a rabbit went, that is, if it is not too
• 53:54
  Speaker 4: long after the rabbit has passed by. Rabbits and other
• 53:58
  Speaker 4: animals when they step on the ground, leave there a
• 54:02
  Speaker 4: sort of smell called a scent. Just as if you
• 54:06
  Speaker 4: rubbed an onion on a dish. Though you did not
• 54:09
  Speaker 4: see the onion rubbed on the dish, if you smelled
• 54:11
  Speaker 4: the dish, even in the dark, you would know the
• 54:14
  Speaker 4: onion had been there. That's the way it is when
• 54:18
  Speaker 4: a dog chases a rabbit. He smells the tracks on
• 54:21
  Speaker 4: the ground when he cannot see the bunny running along.
• 54:24
  Speaker 4: Pretty soon Flopier came to the woods. In among the bushes,
• 54:29
  Speaker 4: he jumped, and now he was hidden from the dog.
• 54:33
  Speaker 4: Oh but i'll get you anyhow, barked the dog. I'll
• 54:37
  Speaker 4: smell you out with my sharp nose. No you won't,
• 54:41
  Speaker 4: thought Flopier, for he did not want to talk to
• 54:45
  Speaker 4: the dog now, or the cross animal might find the
• 54:48
  Speaker 4: little white rabbit.
• 54:50
  Speaker 3: On and on ran.
• 54:51
  Speaker 4: Flopier as fast as he could go. The dog still
• 54:55
  Speaker 4: came after him, for every time Floppier's feet touched the ground,
• 54:59
  Speaker 4: they left a smell there which the dog could follow.
• 55:03
  Speaker 4: But pretty soon Flopier came to a brook running through
• 55:07
  Speaker 4: the woods. Now here's where I fool that dog, thought
• 55:11
  Speaker 4: the rabbit. So Flopier went close to the edge of
• 55:15
  Speaker 4: the water, jumped in where it was not very deep,
• 55:18
  Speaker 4: and waded downstream, going as fast as he could, splashing
• 55:22
  Speaker 4: drops all over. But he did not mind that, as
• 55:26
  Speaker 4: the day was warm. Besides, it was better to be
• 55:30
  Speaker 4: wet than to have a dog bite him. After going
• 55:34
  Speaker 4: down the brook quite a distance. Flopier went all the
• 55:38
  Speaker 4: way across it to the other side, and then he
• 55:42
  Speaker 4: felt that he need not hurry. So the dog cannot
• 55:46
  Speaker 4: smell where I am now, he said to himself, and
• 55:49
  Speaker 4: this was true. Barking and growling, the dog came to
• 55:53
  Speaker 4: the edge of the brook where Flopier had waded into
• 55:56
  Speaker 4: the water, but the rabbit was out of sight. Then
• 55:59
  Speaker 4: the dog had to stop for a minute. Now which
• 56:03
  Speaker 4: way did that rabbit go, he asked himself, For you see,
• 56:08
  Speaker 4: the smell of rabbit's feet or those of other animals
• 56:11
  Speaker 4: will not stay on the water. That is where the
• 56:14
  Speaker 4: dog was puzzled. I guess the rabbit jumped across the brook,
• 56:18
  Speaker 4: and he is in the woods on the other side,
• 56:21
  Speaker 4: said the dog. I'll go over there myself. So across
• 56:26
  Speaker 4: the water went the dog, But when he got on
• 56:29
  Speaker 4: the other side, he could neither see Flopier nor smell
• 56:32
  Speaker 4: where he was, for the rabbit was quite away down
• 56:36
  Speaker 4: the stream. You see, the dog ran all around trying
• 56:40
  Speaker 4: to get track of the rabbit smell, but he could not.
• 56:44
  Speaker 4: He got away from me after all, said the dog.
• 56:48
  Speaker 3: I call that a mean trick.
• 56:51
  Speaker 4: But for Flopier it was a good trick. He did
• 56:55
  Speaker 4: not want to be bitten any more than that dog
• 56:58
  Speaker 4: would like to get a nil. So Flopier got himself
• 57:02
  Speaker 4: out of one danger. My that was a long run,
• 57:06
  Speaker 4: said Flopier, as he came to rest on a bed
• 57:09
  Speaker 4: of soft moss.
• 57:11
  Speaker 3: I thought that.
• 57:12
  Speaker 4: Dog would surely get me. He listened very hard, but
• 57:17
  Speaker 4: he could not hear the dog barking. Now the dog
• 57:20
  Speaker 4: had gone back to his home in the farmhouse near
• 57:22
  Speaker 4: the big pile of hay. Flopier was hungry again now,
• 57:28
  Speaker 4: so after resting, he looked about and found some sweet
• 57:32
  Speaker 4: bark from a tree. He ate as much of this
• 57:35
  Speaker 4: as he wanted, taking a little sassafras bark as a
• 57:38
  Speaker 4: sort of dessert, as you take a pudding or pie,
• 57:42
  Speaker 4: and then he hopped on again, still looking for his
• 57:45
  Speaker 4: lost home. All that day, Flopier wandered about the woods. Then,
• 57:51
  Speaker 4: as night was coming on, he looked for a place
• 57:54
  Speaker 4: to sleep. He was wondering if he had better not
• 57:56
  Speaker 4: go back to that pile of hay, when all at
• 57:59
  Speaker 4: once he saw another rabbit just ahead of him.
• 58:03
  Speaker 3: Oh if that is only.
• 58:05
  Speaker 4: One of my folks, thought Flopier, his heart beating very fast.
• 58:09
  Speaker 4: How happy I shall be. Hello there, he called to
• 58:13
  Speaker 4: the other bunny. Hello came back the answer. And then
• 58:18
  Speaker 4: Flopier's heart was sad, for the voice was not that
• 58:22
  Speaker 4: of any of his relatives, not lady munches, his father's,
• 58:26
  Speaker 4: mother's pink noses or snuggles.
• 58:30
  Speaker 3: Do you live around.
• 58:31
  Speaker 4: Here, asked Flopier of the strange rabbit.
• 58:35
  Speaker 3: Yes, was the answer.
• 58:37
  Speaker 4: My burrow is right under the place where you are sitting,
• 58:40
  Speaker 4: and my front door is near this rock where I am. Oh, dear,
• 58:46
  Speaker 4: I wish I were as near my house as you
• 58:49
  Speaker 4: are to yours, said Flopier. What's the matter, asked the
• 58:54
  Speaker 4: other rabbit, whose name was Fluffo. Oh, I'm lost, Floppier said,
• 58:59
  Speaker 4: A hunter chased me away from my nice home. Then
• 59:03
  Speaker 4: come and stay with me, suggested Fluffo. I have plenty
• 59:08
  Speaker 4: of room, and there are some nice carrots and cabbages
• 59:11
  Speaker 4: in my burrow. How good that sounds, Flopier said, I
• 59:16
  Speaker 4: will come in and stay with you. So down into
• 59:19
  Speaker 4: the other bunny's burrow he went and had a good supper,
• 59:23
  Speaker 4: staying there all night. He had a good breakfast too,
• 59:27
  Speaker 4: and then he started off through the woods again. Why
• 59:30
  Speaker 4: don't you stay longer with me, asked Fluffo. I have
• 59:34
  Speaker 4: plenty of room for both of us. Oh, I would
• 59:37
  Speaker 4: like to stay, Flapier said, but I feel that I
• 59:41
  Speaker 4: must try to get back to my own dear home.
• 59:43
  Speaker 4: My father and mother may be looking for me. Well
• 59:47
  Speaker 4: go on, then, said Fluffo. I hope you will find
• 59:51
  Speaker 4: your burrow soon. Thank you, returned Flopier. I hope I
• 59:55
  Speaker 4: do away. He hopped over the fields and through the woods,
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 4: and pretty soon he saw that the woods were coming
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 4: to an end again. A large field was in front
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 4: of Flopier, and in the field was a farmhouse with
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 4: barns and sheds. I wonder if I could get anything
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 4: to eat over there, thought Flopier, for he had not
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 4: had anything since leaving Fluffo's burrow early that morning. I
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 4: guess i'll hop over and see went on the rabbit.
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 4: I hope there are no dogs to chase me. Flopier
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 4: hopped across the field toward the farmhouse. Back of it
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 4: was a little shed, and the door of this shed
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 4: was open. In went Flopier, not knowing quite where he
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 4: was going. He saw piles of wood in the shed,
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 4: for this was the place where the farmer's wife kept
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 4: her wood for making fires. There were pieces of trees
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 4: that had once grown in the forest. Well, here is
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 4: some bark I cannot, thought Flopier. But it is not
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 4: as nice and fresh as that which grows on the
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 4: trees in the woods. I guess i'll And then Flopier
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 4: stopped suddenly, for he heard someone coming into the woodshed.
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 3: Oh, I hope that isn't the hunterman.
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 4: Thought the rabbit. I'd better hide. In front of him
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 4: was a basket filled with wood. There was room down
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 4: in among the sticks of wood for Flopier to hide
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 4: into the basket. He jumped and cuddled down out of sight.
• 1:01:31
  Speaker 4: Then Flopier heard a woman calling.
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 3: Jimmy, Jimmy, bring me in a basket of wood.
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 4: Please, I will, mother, answered a boy. Floppier could understand
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 4: some of our kind of talk, you know, though he
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 4: could not speak it himself. The rabbit heard someone walking
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 4: around the shed, and then all at once Floppier felt
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 4: himself being lifted up in the basket of wood and
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 4: being carried alt. Oh, I wonder what is going to
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 4: happen to me? Now, thought the rabbit, whose heart was
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 4: beating very fast, as he was much frightened are you
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 4: bringing the wood Jimmy? The boy's mother called, yes'm I'm
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 4: coming with it. There was something else in the basket
• 1:02:19
  Speaker 4: beside the wood, had the boy only known it. Floppier
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 4: felt himself bouncing along, up and down as the boy
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 4: carried him in the wood basket, and then he felt
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 4: the basket being set down. Take out the wood, Jimmy, deer,
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 4: and put it in the wood box behind the stove,
• 1:02:38
  Speaker 4: said the woman, and the boy did so. Stick after
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 4: stick he lifted out, and Floppier, who was down in
• 1:02:46
  Speaker 4: the very bottom, was wondering what would happen when the
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 4: basket was empty. They'll see me, surely, then said the rabbit.
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 4: I wonder what they will do to me. Oh, I
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 4: seem to be getting in more and more trouble. All
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 4: the while, the boy, who was lifting the wood out
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 4: of the basket, suddenly cried, oh, mother.
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 3: Look here a rabbit. A rabbit where.
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 4: In the wood basket. And before Flopier could hop out
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 4: of the way, the boy had lifted him up in
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 4: his arms, holding him closely. End of chapter five. Recording
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 4: by Bethconnor www Dotbethconnor dot com. Chapter six A Flopier
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 4: the Funny rabbit. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 4: recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 4: to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Bethconnor
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 4: www Dotbethconnor dot com. Chapter six, Flopier learns Tricks. Flopier
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 4: at first was so frightened at finding himself in the
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 4: boy's arms that he did not know what to do.
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 4: He trembled and tried to get away, but the boy said,
• 1:04:15
  Speaker 4: keep still, a little rabbit. I won't hurt you. I
• 1:04:18
  Speaker 4: will be kind to you. Flopier understood a little of
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 4: this talk, but best of all, he understood the kind
• 1:04:27
  Speaker 4: stroking hand of the boy, who rubbed his furs softly.
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 4: Animals can tell just by the way you touch them
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 4: whether or not you are going to be nice to them.
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 4: But still Flopier was frightened. To a little rabbit. A
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 4: boy is as big as a giant would be to
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 4: you or me. And this was the first time in
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 4: all his life Flopier had ever been near a human being.
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 4: If there were giants in the world, I think we
• 1:04:56
  Speaker 4: would all be very much frightened if we saw one
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 4: for the first time and did not know whether he
• 1:05:02
  Speaker 4: would be cross or kind. But after we had seen
• 1:05:06
  Speaker 4: the giant two or three times and learned that he
• 1:05:09
  Speaker 4: would not harm us, we would not be so worried.
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 4: It was this way with flopp Ear. It was the
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 4: first time he had ever seen a boy close by,
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 4: and he was afraid. Now, don't try to get away,
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 4: little bunny, said the boy kindly.
• 1:05:25
  Speaker 3: I won't hurt you. See him, mother, isn't he cute?
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 3: Where did you get him, Jimmy?
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 4: Why? He was in the wood basket, right under the wood.
• 1:05:36
  Speaker 4: And when I lifted out the last sticks, I saw
• 1:05:39
  Speaker 4: him in the wood basket. How in the world did
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 4: he get there? He must have come in from the
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 4: fields or woods and hopped in to hide, said Jimmy
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 4: the boy. I am going to keep him for a pet.
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 4: If he will stay with me, I will teach him
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 4: some tricks. Put him down on.
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 3: The floor and see if he will stay.
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 4: Suggested the woman. I'm afraid he'll run. Wait until I
• 1:06:04
  Speaker 4: shut the door, the boy said, and I'll get him
• 1:06:08
  Speaker 4: a carrot to eat. Returned his mother. Maybe he won't
• 1:06:12
  Speaker 4: run when he sees that. She put a carrot down
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 4: on the kitchen floor, and the boy placed Floppier in
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 4: front of it. The carrot smelled very good to Flopier,
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 4: for he was hungry, so he did not run away,
• 1:06:26
  Speaker 4: though his heart was still beating fast. Then the boy
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 4: saw the rabbit's funny drooping ear. Oh, mother see, cried Jimmy,
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 4: What a funny rabbit.
• 1:06:39
  Speaker 3: Isn't he comical?
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 4: He's as comical as Squinty the pig. Yes, he does
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 4: look odd, said the woman. I think Floppier would be
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 4: a good name for him. And so you see, without
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 4: any trouble at all, Flopier got his own right name.
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 4: It was natural to call him that. I like him
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 4: better than I do Squinty, said the boy. I was
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 4: over at mister Jones's farm the other day, and I
• 1:07:06
  Speaker 4: saw Squinty in the pen. Mister Jones said, some children
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 4: were going to take him for a pet, but I
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 4: would rather have Flopier, the funny rabbit. Well this isn't
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 4: so bad, thought Floppier, as he nibbled the carrot. If
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 4: this boy knows my friend Squinty, I guess he will
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 4: be kind to me. So some children are going to
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 4: take Squinty away for a pet, are they? I hope
• 1:07:32
  Speaker 4: they will be good to him. And give him what he.
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 3: Likes to eat.
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 4: All this while Floppier himself was eating the carrot, one
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 4: of his ears standing up and the other drooping down.
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 4: And he looked so funny that the boy and his
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 4: mother had to laugh. I did not know rabbits would
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 4: come into our woodshed, the boy said.
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 3: I wonder what made this one do so?
• 1:07:56
  Speaker 4: Perhaps he was hungry, said Jimmy's mother, and that the reason,
• 1:08:01
  Speaker 4: as you know, why Flopier had come into the farmhouse
• 1:08:04
  Speaker 4: and had gone into the shed. Flopier was not so frightened.
• 1:08:08
  Speaker 3: Now.
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 4: He looked all about him, and he thought he was
• 1:08:12
  Speaker 4: in a very queer place, a farmhouse kitchen. There was
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 4: a big black thing in there, and in it was
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 4: a fire. Flopier knew what fire was for once the
• 1:08:24
  Speaker 4: woods near his burrow were blazing, and the rabbits had
• 1:08:27
  Speaker 4: to run underground and stay there to keep away from
• 1:08:30
  Speaker 4: the hot flames. I wonder why people want fires in
• 1:08:34
  Speaker 4: their houses, thought Flopier. We never have any in our burrow.
• 1:08:39
  Speaker 4: Then he saw Jimmy's mother put a pan on the
• 1:08:42
  Speaker 4: big black thing with fire in it, and soon white smoke,
• 1:08:46
  Speaker 4: so it seemed to Flopier rose from the pan Jimmy's
• 1:08:50
  Speaker 4: mother was cooking dinner over the fire, made with some
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 4: of the wood taken from the basket in which the
• 1:08:55
  Speaker 4: rabbit had hidden. Flopier, said the boy, speaking to the rabbit,
• 1:09:01
  Speaker 4: just as if it could understand. Flopier, you are a
• 1:09:05
  Speaker 4: nice bunny, and I like you. I'm going to keep
• 1:09:09
  Speaker 4: you for myself, and I will teach you some tricks
• 1:09:12
  Speaker 4: in a few days when you're not so frightened, and
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 4: I must make a little house for you to stay in.
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 4: A box will do, though. I suppose you can gnaw
• 1:09:21
  Speaker 4: your way out with your teeth if you don't like it.
• 1:09:24
  Speaker 4: But I will get a strong box and give you
• 1:09:27
  Speaker 4: plenty to eat, and maybe you will not try to
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 4: get away. I think you are a very nice boy,
• 1:09:34
  Speaker 4: thought Flopier to himself. You seem to be kind to me,
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 4: But still I cannot promise to stay always with you.
• 1:09:42
  Speaker 4: I want to go back to my own home and folks,
• 1:09:45
  Speaker 4: but I will stay here awhile and eat carrots. Of course,
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 4: the boy could not know Flopier was thinking this, but
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 4: the boy could see the rabbit was not so frightened
• 1:09:56
  Speaker 4: as he had been at first. I think he likes me,
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 4: said the boy, to his mother. I will teach him
• 1:10:02
  Speaker 4: some tricks, and maybe I can sell him to the circus.
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 3: Oh, I wouldn't sell him.
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 4: Jimmy's mother said, keep him for yourself. All right, Maybe
• 1:10:13
  Speaker 4: I'll do that. Let me see circus. Where have I
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 4: heard that word before? Thought Flopier. Oh, I remember Blackie
• 1:10:23
  Speaker 4: the lost cat told me she met Dido the dancing
• 1:10:26
  Speaker 4: bear in a circus. Well, if Dido was there, I
• 1:10:30
  Speaker 4: wouldn't mind going to a circus. But still I shall
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 4: like it here for a while. The boy found a strong,
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 4: heavy box to make into a little house for Flopier.
• 1:10:42
  Speaker 4: He put it out in the yard under a tree,
• 1:10:44
  Speaker 4: where the rabbit would be in the shade. Flopier was
• 1:10:48
  Speaker 4: given some lettuce leaves to eat, and he liked them
• 1:10:51
  Speaker 4: even better than he did carrots. There was also a
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 4: pan of nice water for the rabbit to drink. Well,
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 4: this is nicer and running through the woods with a
• 1:11:01
  Speaker 4: dog after, you, thought Floppier. Still, I would like to
• 1:11:05
  Speaker 4: find my own house again and have a good game
• 1:11:08
  Speaker 4: of tag with pink nose and snuggle. Just as the
• 1:11:12
  Speaker 4: boy thought, Flopier did try to knaw his way out
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 4: of the box. For the boy knew something about rabbits.
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 4: They are good gnars, almost as good as rats and mice.
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 4: They have four front teeth just made for cutting through wood,
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 4: and they use them in taking bark off trees to eat.
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 4: So Flopier, with his strong front teeth, tried to gnaw
• 1:11:37
  Speaker 4: out the box. If it had not been a heavy,
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 4: thick one, he might have done it and gotten away.
• 1:11:44
  Speaker 4: But the boy saw what his new rabbit pet was
• 1:11:46
  Speaker 4: doing and put some tin inside the box. Rabbits, rats
• 1:11:51
  Speaker 4: or mice cannot gnaw through even thin tin. It is
• 1:11:55
  Speaker 4: too strong for their sharp teeth. That afternoon, when Floppier
• 1:12:00
  Speaker 4: had taken a little sleep in his box on some
• 1:12:03
  Speaker 4: soft straw which the boy had put in for him,
• 1:12:06
  Speaker 4: Jimmy said, now I will teach Floppier some tricks. Come
• 1:12:11
  Speaker 4: on out, bunny boy, and let me see what you
• 1:12:13
  Speaker 4: can do. Of course, Flopier did not in the least
• 1:12:18
  Speaker 4: know what was going to happen to him, but he
• 1:12:21
  Speaker 4: knew by this time that the boy was good and
• 1:12:24
  Speaker 4: kind and would not hurt him. We will try an
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 4: easy trick, Jimmy said, I will see if you know
• 1:12:31
  Speaker 4: how to jump through a barrel hoop. The boy set
• 1:12:34
  Speaker 4: Floppier down on the ground outside the box. Of course,
• 1:12:38
  Speaker 4: the rabbit might have run away, but he thought he
• 1:12:41
  Speaker 4: would not. There is enough time for that. Later on,
• 1:12:45
  Speaker 4: Floppier said to himself, I will see what he means
• 1:12:48
  Speaker 4: by tricks and jumping through a hoop. The boy had
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 4: with him a round hoop from a barrel. He held
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 4: this up in front of the rabbit, but Floppier did
• 1:12:58
  Speaker 4: not know what to do. Jump Floppy, jump, cried the boy.
• 1:13:02
  Speaker 4: Jump through the hoop, but Floppier did not. I know
• 1:13:06
  Speaker 4: how to make him, said Jimmy. Then he took a
• 1:13:10
  Speaker 4: carrot and put it on the ground in front of it.
• 1:13:14
  Speaker 4: He held up the round hoop. Floppier saw the carrot
• 1:13:18
  Speaker 4: and wanted to get it to eat. He started around
• 1:13:21
  Speaker 4: one side of the hoop, but the boy gently pushed
• 1:13:24
  Speaker 4: him back. You must jump through the hoop if you
• 1:13:26
  Speaker 4: want the carrot, said Jimmy. Floppier tried to go around
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 4: the other way, but the boy would not let him.
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 4: Then the rabbit saw that the easiest way to get
• 1:13:37
  Speaker 4: to the sweet carrot was to jump through the hoop,
• 1:13:40
  Speaker 4: which he did as nicely as you please. It was
• 1:13:44
  Speaker 4: easy for him to jump, you know, to go through
• 1:13:47
  Speaker 4: the hoop was the only new thing about it. Fine,
• 1:13:51
  Speaker 4: that's the way to do it, cried Jimmy, much pleased.
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 4: You have learned a trick, Flopier. I don't call that
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 4: much of a trick, thought the rabbit. But still it
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 4: may be three or four times Jimmy made the rabbit
• 1:14:07
  Speaker 4: jump through the hoop, and each time Flopier was given
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 4: a bit of carrot. Then he learned to do it
• 1:14:13
  Speaker 4: without anything to eat, and after a bit Floppier grew
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 4: to like to do the trick, for it seemed to
• 1:14:21
  Speaker 4: please the boy who patted the bunny's soft fur. Now
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 4: we have one trick, we'll try another, said Jimmy. A
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 4: few days later. I wonder if you can stand up
• 1:14:32
  Speaker 4: on your hind legs, I'd hold a bit of carrot
• 1:14:35
  Speaker 4: on your nose.
• 1:14:36
  Speaker 3: Well.
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 4: It was easy enough, of course, for Flopier to stand
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 4: up on his hind legs. He had done that in
• 1:14:43
  Speaker 4: the woods often enough, and it was not so hard
• 1:14:46
  Speaker 4: for him to hold a bit of carrot on his nose.
• 1:14:49
  Speaker 4: But as soon as Jimmy put it there, Floppier let
• 1:14:52
  Speaker 4: the carrot fall to the ground and ate it. He
• 1:14:55
  Speaker 4: thought that was what it was for.
• 1:14:58
  Speaker 3: No, no, you must not.
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 4: Do it that way, said Jimmy. I want you to
• 1:15:02
  Speaker 4: stand up on your hind legs and hold the carrot
• 1:15:05
  Speaker 4: on your nose until I tell you to eat it
• 1:15:07
  Speaker 4: and clap my hands.
• 1:15:09
  Speaker 3: Then you may take it.
• 1:15:11
  Speaker 4: Now we'll try again once more. Floppier stood up on
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 4: his hind legs. Again, the carrot was put on his nose,
• 1:15:19
  Speaker 4: but he dropped it off. And no, he did not
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 4: eat this time, for the boy grabbed it away as
• 1:15:26
  Speaker 4: soon as it fell to the ground. You must not
• 1:15:30
  Speaker 4: eat until I tell you, Flopier, said Jimmy. It took
• 1:15:34
  Speaker 4: quite a while for the rabbit to learn this trick,
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 4: but finally he came to understand what Jimmy wanted. And
• 1:15:42
  Speaker 4: then after a bit Floppier would stand up when the
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 4: boy told him to, and when the carrot was put
• 1:15:48
  Speaker 4: on the rabbit's nose, he would not let it drop
• 1:15:50
  Speaker 4: off and eat until Jimmy clapped his hands. Now you
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 4: are quite team, and you know two.
• 1:15:58
  Speaker 3: Tricks, said the boy. You were getting to be.
• 1:16:01
  Speaker 4: Quite the circus rabbit. I must teach you another trick.
• 1:16:07
  Speaker 4: End of chapter six. Recording by Bethconnor www dot Bathconnor
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 4: dot com.
• 1:16:21
  Speaker 2: Chapter seven of Flopier the Funny Rabbit. This is a
• 1:16:26
  Speaker 2: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 1:16:29
  Speaker 2: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 1:16:35
  Speaker 2: Flopier The Funny Rabbit by Richard Barnum, Chapter seven, Flopier
• 1:16:42
  Speaker 2: gets away for two or three days. Jimmy made Flopier
• 1:16:47
  Speaker 2: do over and over again the first two tricks, those
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 2: of jumping through the barrel hoop and standing up with
• 1:16:54
  Speaker 2: a piece of carrot on his nose. The rabbit did
• 1:16:57
  Speaker 2: not mind doing them, for he was getting to like
• 1:16:59
  Speaker 2: the boy because he was very kind and good. But
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 2: two tricks are not enough for a rabbit. The boy said,
• 1:17:07
  Speaker 2: I want you to know some more, and then I
• 1:17:09
  Speaker 2: can get up a little animal show or a circus
• 1:17:11
  Speaker 2: with you. Then the boy said to himself, I ought
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 2: to have more animals. I wonder if I can get
• 1:17:18
  Speaker 2: a dog and teach him some tricks or a cat.
• 1:17:22
  Speaker 2: Gracious thought Flopier, I hope he doesn't get a dog
• 1:17:25
  Speaker 2: that will bite. If he does, I'll have to run
• 1:17:27
  Speaker 2: away if I get the chance. Several times Floppier had
• 1:17:31
  Speaker 2: thought of going away. He might easily have done it too,
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 2: for the boy often let the rabbit come out of
• 1:17:37
  Speaker 2: the box, but then said Floppier to himself, if I
• 1:17:42
  Speaker 2: ran away, may not get such nice things to eat
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 2: as I can't hear. So I think I'll stay for
• 1:17:47
  Speaker 2: a while. I wonder what other trick that boy will
• 1:17:50
  Speaker 2: teach me. Floppier soon found out. One day, Jimmy came
• 1:17:55
  Speaker 2: home from school, bringing another boy with him. I'll show
• 1:17:59
  Speaker 2: you my tame rabbit, said Jimmy to his friend. Where
• 1:18:02
  Speaker 2: you get him? The other boy asked. The boy's name
• 1:18:05
  Speaker 2: was Sam. I found him in the basket when I
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 2: brought it in, filled with wood, answered Jimmy. He's such
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 2: a funny rabbit with his one flop ear. Here he
• 1:18:15
  Speaker 2: is in this box. Jimmy opened the box. Sam leaned
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 2: over and before Jimmy could stop him, lifted the rabbit
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 2: out of the box, raising him up by taking hold
• 1:18:27
  Speaker 2: of his ears. Here, don't do that, cried Jimmy. Don't
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 2: do what? Lift my rabbit that way by the ears?
• 1:18:37
  Speaker 2: Why not because it hurts them? It does not, cried Sam,
• 1:18:44
  Speaker 2: holding flop eer up higher in the air. Indeed it
• 1:18:47
  Speaker 2: does hurt me, Flopier was saying to himself, but of
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 2: course he could not tell the boys that as they
• 1:18:53
  Speaker 2: did not understand rabbit talk. But Flopier kicked and wiggles
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 2: his legs and showed as plainly as he could that
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 2: he did not like being lifted around this way. Stop it,
• 1:19:06
  Speaker 2: cried Jimmy. Put him down, Sam, you'll pull his ears off.
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 2: Maybe I will not. You always lift rabbits by the ears.
• 1:19:16
  Speaker 2: No you don't, cried Jimmy. My mother says that lots
• 1:19:20
  Speaker 2: of folks thinks it's right to lift a rabbit by
• 1:19:22
  Speaker 2: the ears, But it isn't anyed more than you'd lift
• 1:19:26
  Speaker 2: a dog or cat by its ears. You couldn't lift
• 1:19:29
  Speaker 2: a cat by her ears, said Sam, they're not big enough.
• 1:19:34
  Speaker 2: But some dogs have ears almost as big as rabbits,
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 2: only they don't stand up straight. Well, never mind that,
• 1:19:43
  Speaker 2: said Jimmy. Put my rabbit down, please, or if you
• 1:19:46
  Speaker 2: want to hold him, do it this way. And Jimmy
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 2: took the rabbit in his arms as a little girl
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 2: might hold her kitten. Floppyir like to be held that way,
• 1:19:55
  Speaker 2: and he liked it still more when Jimmy fed him
• 1:19:58
  Speaker 2: with a nice tender green leaf of let us. This
• 1:20:01
  Speaker 2: is the best way to hold rabbits, Jimmy went on, well,
• 1:20:05
  Speaker 2: I didn't know it. I'm sorry if I hurt yours,
• 1:20:08
  Speaker 2: said Sam, who was really a good boy. Oh I
• 1:20:14
  Speaker 2: guess you didn't hold Floppier long enough to hurt him,
• 1:20:16
  Speaker 2: went on Jimmy, and now I'll show you two tricks
• 1:20:20
  Speaker 2: he can do, and then we'll teach him another. Floppier
• 1:20:24
  Speaker 2: jumped through the hoop for the first trick, and then
• 1:20:26
  Speaker 2: stood up with a piece of carrot on his nose,
• 1:20:29
  Speaker 2: not offering to eat it until Jimmy clapped his hands.
• 1:20:33
  Speaker 2: What do you think of that, asked Jimmy of Sam.
• 1:20:37
  Speaker 2: I think they're fine tricks. What else are you going
• 1:20:40
  Speaker 2: to have him do? I'm going to see if I
• 1:20:43
  Speaker 2: can harness him up and make him draw a little wagon.
• 1:20:46
  Speaker 2: I've got a small one that used to belong to
• 1:20:48
  Speaker 2: my little brother. He's too big to play with it now. Besides,
• 1:20:52
  Speaker 2: he's away on visit to my grandmother. So I'm going
• 1:20:54
  Speaker 2: to take his wagon and see if Floppier we'll pull it.
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 2: This talk was all straight to flop Ear, but he
• 1:21:01
  Speaker 2: soon found out what it meant. Jimmy put his rabbit
• 1:21:04
  Speaker 2: back in the box with some cabbage leaves to nibble,
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 2: and then the two boys went away They came back
• 1:21:10
  Speaker 2: in a little while with the small wagon and some
• 1:21:13
  Speaker 2: pieces of string. Jimmy also had a little leather collar
• 1:21:17
  Speaker 2: that had once been on the neck of his pet
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 2: cat that had grown too big to wear it. We'll
• 1:21:23
  Speaker 2: put the collar on the rabbit, Jimmy said, and fasten
• 1:21:26
  Speaker 2: the strings to it. Then we'll fasten the strings to
• 1:21:29
  Speaker 2: the wagon, and when the bunny hops along, he'll pull
• 1:21:31
  Speaker 2: the cart after him like a pony. That will be great,
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 2: cried Sam. But it was not as easy as they
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 2: thought it would be. In the first place. Flop Ear
• 1:21:43
  Speaker 2: did not like the collar on his neck. He had
• 1:21:46
  Speaker 2: never worn one, and he thought it might hurt him.
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 2: So when Jimmy and Sam tried to put it on,
• 1:21:51
  Speaker 2: the rabbit kicked and wiggled. Oh stand still, flop Ear, cried, Jimmy,
• 1:21:58
  Speaker 2: he won't hurt you. But even this did no good.
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 2: The more the boys tried to put the collar on
• 1:22:04
  Speaker 2: flop Ear's neck, the more the bunny wiggled. We never
• 1:22:08
  Speaker 2: can do it, said Sam. Oh, yes, we can, returned Jimmy.
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 2: I know a way. I'll go and get a carrot.
• 1:22:16
  Speaker 2: You'll hold it for him to eat, and while he's
• 1:22:19
  Speaker 2: nibbling it, I'll slip the collar on his neck. Well,
• 1:22:23
  Speaker 2: we can try, said Sam. Floppier did not understand all
• 1:22:28
  Speaker 2: that the boy said, but when he saw Sam holding
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 2: out a carrot to him, the rabbit knew enough to
• 1:22:34
  Speaker 2: want to eat it, and as he stretched out his
• 1:22:37
  Speaker 2: neck to reach the carrot, Jimmy quickly slipped on the
• 1:22:40
  Speaker 2: collar and fastened it. There you are, Floppier, he said,
• 1:22:45
  Speaker 2: and surely enough there was the collar on the rabbit's neck.
• 1:22:50
  Speaker 2: Well it isn't as bad as I thought it was,
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 2: said Floppier to himself. It doesn't hurt me, but it
• 1:22:56
  Speaker 2: feels funny. It's sort of tickles. I don't exactly like it.
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 2: I wish I could get it off. He shook his head,
• 1:23:03
  Speaker 2: hopping to shake off the collar, but it would not come.
• 1:23:06
  Speaker 2: Then he tried to push it off with his paw,
• 1:23:08
  Speaker 2: but he could not do that either. No, you can't
• 1:23:12
  Speaker 2: get it off, Flopier, said Jimmy with a laugh as
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 2: he saw what his pet was trying to do. But
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 2: never mind, I won't make you keep it on always,
• 1:23:22
  Speaker 2: only once in a while when you pull the wagon.
• 1:23:26
  Speaker 2: Let's hitch him up now and see what he does,
• 1:23:29
  Speaker 2: suggested Sam. All right, answered Jimmy. They fastened the wagon
• 1:23:34
  Speaker 2: to the collar of Flopier with strings. Then Jimmy said,
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 2: Geina up, Flopier. That's not the way to talk to
• 1:23:42
  Speaker 2: a rabbit, said Sam. That's horse talk. Well, I don't
• 1:23:47
  Speaker 2: know how to tell a rabbit to go on and
• 1:23:50
  Speaker 2: rabbit talk, said Jimmy. So I'll have to make believe
• 1:23:53
  Speaker 2: he's a horse. Geina up Flopier. But the rabbit would
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 2: not move. He laid down on the ground for he
• 1:24:02
  Speaker 2: did not know what Jimmy wanted him to do. That
• 1:24:06
  Speaker 2: trick isn't going to work, said Sam. Yes it is,
• 1:24:10
  Speaker 2: cried Jimmy. After thinking a minute, I have a new way.
• 1:24:13
  Speaker 2: You go in front of Floppier and hold the carrot out,
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 2: but just so he can't reach it. What good will
• 1:24:19
  Speaker 2: that do, asked Sam. You'll see, answered Jimmy. Sam held
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 2: the carrot in front of Flopier and a little way
• 1:24:28
  Speaker 2: from his nose. The rabbit smelt the carrot, and as
• 1:24:32
  Speaker 2: he could not reach it, he hopped forward. Now pull
• 1:24:36
  Speaker 2: it away from him, quickly, cried Jimmy. Hold it in
• 1:24:39
  Speaker 2: front of him, and every time he jumps to get it,
• 1:24:42
  Speaker 2: move it ahead a little. That will keep him moving
• 1:24:44
  Speaker 2: and he'll pull the wagon. Oh, sure enough, so he will,
• 1:24:49
  Speaker 2: Sam cried in much excitement. And that is what Flopier did.
• 1:24:55
  Speaker 2: In trying to reach the carrot, which Sam kept moving
• 1:24:58
  Speaker 2: away from him. Floppier had to move himself forward, and
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 2: as he did this, he dragged the little wagon after him. Hurrah,
• 1:25:06
  Speaker 2: cried Jimmy. Now he's pulling it halfway across the yard.
• 1:25:11
  Speaker 2: Floppier hopped after the carrot, which he was never able
• 1:25:14
  Speaker 2: to reach, and with every move he made, the wagon,
• 1:25:18
  Speaker 2: which was tied fast to his collar, moved after him.
• 1:25:21
  Speaker 2: I don't think this is a nice way to treat me,
• 1:25:23
  Speaker 2: thought Flopier. I want that carrot, but I can't get it. Still,
• 1:25:28
  Speaker 2: I suppose it's a trick and I must do it.
• 1:25:31
  Speaker 2: Shall I give him the carrot, now, asked Sam, when
• 1:25:34
  Speaker 2: Floppier had pulled the wagon all the way across the yard. Yes,
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 2: give it to him, said Jimmy. So Floppier got the
• 1:25:44
  Speaker 2: carrot after all, and it tasted very good to him. Well,
• 1:25:48
  Speaker 2: maybe this trick isn't so bad after all, the bunny thought.
• 1:25:52
  Speaker 2: When he had eaten one carrot, Sam held out another
• 1:25:55
  Speaker 2: for Flopier, and once more the rabbit dragged the wagon
• 1:25:59
  Speaker 2: across the yard. He is learning the trick, all right,
• 1:26:02
  Speaker 2: said Jimmy. In a few days, Flopier got so he
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 2: could draw the little wagon very easily, and Sam did
• 1:26:11
  Speaker 2: not have to keep moving away from in front of
• 1:26:13
  Speaker 2: him with a carrot all the while. Either Jimmy put
• 1:26:17
  Speaker 2: a carrot on one side of the yard and set
• 1:26:20
  Speaker 2: Flopier and the little wagon at the other side. Now
• 1:26:25
  Speaker 2: go get your carrot, Floppy, the boy would say, and
• 1:26:28
  Speaker 2: then away Floppy ear would hop to get to the
• 1:26:31
  Speaker 2: nice yellow vegetable, and at the same time he would
• 1:26:34
  Speaker 2: be drawing the wagon. Now he can do three tricks,
• 1:26:38
  Speaker 2: said Jimmy. When he was not doing the wagon trick,
• 1:26:42
  Speaker 2: Flopier did not have to wear the collar, and he
• 1:26:45
  Speaker 2: was glad of that, as it tickled him and he
• 1:26:48
  Speaker 2: did not like it, though it did.
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 3: Not hurt him.
• 1:26:51
  Speaker 2: For some time, Flopier stayed with Jimmy, learning some new tricks.
• 1:26:55
  Speaker 2: Often other boys and girls would come to Jimmy's yard
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 2: to look at the pet rabbit and stroke his soft
• 1:27:01
  Speaker 2: white fur. Jimmy liked this, and because Jimmy told them
• 1:27:05
  Speaker 2: about not lifting rabbits by their ears, no one ever
• 1:27:09
  Speaker 2: took Floppy up that way, and then one day Flopier
• 1:27:15
  Speaker 2: suddenly felt that he ought to go away. It's nicier
• 1:27:18
  Speaker 2: and all that, and I have a good home, he
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 2: said to himself. But I think I order travel on.
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 2: See if I cannot find my real underground house and
• 1:27:27
  Speaker 2: my own folks, I want so much to see them.
• 1:27:29
  Speaker 2: I'm going away. And that afternoon, when flop Ear was
• 1:27:34
  Speaker 2: taken out of his box to run around the yard,
• 1:27:37
  Speaker 2: he waited until Jimmy went into the house, and then
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 2: the bunny quickly dug a hole under the fence and
• 1:27:43
  Speaker 2: got out once more. I'm on my travels, he said.
• 1:27:51
  Speaker 2: End of section seven.
• 1:27:58
  Speaker 5: Chapter eight of flop Ear the Funny This is a
• 1:28:01
  Speaker 5: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 5: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 1:28:10
  Speaker 5: Recording by Hilary Wiley. Flopier the Funny Rabbit by Richard Barnum,
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 5: Chapter eight Flopier Meet Slicko. Flopier sat up on his
• 1:28:20
  Speaker 5: hind legs whence he was outside the fence and looked
• 1:28:22
  Speaker 5: about him. One of his big ears stuck up straight,
• 1:28:25
  Speaker 5: and the other sort of leaned over. Flopier put his
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 5: head on one side, and his nose trembled sort of,
• 1:28:31
  Speaker 5: for he was wiggling it in order to try if
• 1:28:34
  Speaker 5: he could smell any danger. Rabbits can wiggle their noses
• 1:28:37
  Speaker 5: a little, and elephants can wiggle. There's a good bit
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 5: for their nose is their long trunk. And you know
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 5: how tom Tum could sling his trunk about.
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 4: Well, I wonder.
• 1:28:48
  Speaker 5: Which way I shall go, asked Flopier of himself. Just
• 1:28:52
  Speaker 5: then he heard a bird up in a tree over
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 5: his head, laughing. What are you laughing at? Asked Flopier.
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 5: Do you see anything funny? Yes, replied the bird, still laughing.
• 1:29:05
  Speaker 4: I do.
• 1:29:06
  Speaker 3: What is it?
• 1:29:07
  Speaker 5: Asked flop Eer. Tell me, and if I see it,
• 1:29:10
  Speaker 5: I will laugh. Also, you may laugh if you like,
• 1:29:14
  Speaker 5: answered the bird. But you can't see what I am
• 1:29:17
  Speaker 5: laughing at unless you get near a pool of water
• 1:29:19
  Speaker 5: and look down in that. Then you will see yourself,
• 1:29:22
  Speaker 5: For I am laughing at you. You do look funny.
• 1:29:26
  Speaker 5: I hope you don't mind being laughed at, not a bit,
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 5: cried Flopier in a happy voice. I like my friends
• 1:29:33
  Speaker 5: to laugh even at me. It makes them jolly. Then
• 1:29:36
  Speaker 5: it is all right, chirped the bird, if you do
• 1:29:39
  Speaker 5: not mind telling me, Flopier, where have you been and
• 1:29:42
  Speaker 5: where are you going? I do not in the least
• 1:29:45
  Speaker 5: mind telling you returned the rabbit. So you know my
• 1:29:48
  Speaker 5: name too.
• 1:29:49
  Speaker 3: Do you? Oh?
• 1:29:50
  Speaker 5: It is easy to guess your name by looking at
• 1:29:53
  Speaker 5: your floppy ear, said the bird. And may I ask
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 5: what your name is? Asked Floppier politely. My name is Cheerup,
• 1:30:02
  Speaker 5: replied the bird. I am called up because I try
• 1:30:05
  Speaker 5: to make my friend's cheer up and be happy by
• 1:30:07
  Speaker 5: singing to them. That's fine, cried Floppier. I wish I
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 5: could sing well. I suppose it is nice, the bird said,
• 1:30:16
  Speaker 5: trilling a few notes. And I wish I could fly
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 5: like you went on the rabbit. Then maybe I could
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 5: find my home. You see, I am lost. A hunter
• 1:30:26
  Speaker 5: chased me far away from my burrow, and I could
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 5: not find it again. I have been living with a
• 1:30:30
  Speaker 5: boy named Jimmy, and he taught me some tricks, but
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 5: I grew tired of staying shut up in a box
• 1:30:36
  Speaker 5: most of the time, though the boy was very good
• 1:30:38
  Speaker 5: to me. So I have just run away and am
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 5: going to try to find my home and my father
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 5: and my mother and my sister and my brother and
• 1:30:46
  Speaker 5: Lady Munch. Who is Lady Munch, asked Cheerup. She is
• 1:30:51
  Speaker 5: my grandmother and a dear old lady rabbit. And I
• 1:30:54
  Speaker 5: want to see them all so much that I wish
• 1:30:56
  Speaker 5: I could fly as you can, I might find them. Then, yes,
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 5: it is nice to fly, said Cheerup. But still, if
• 1:31:04
  Speaker 5: you cannot sing and fly as I do, there are
• 1:31:06
  Speaker 5: things which you do that I cannot do. I have
• 1:31:09
  Speaker 5: no thick, warm fur to keep me warm in winter,
• 1:31:12
  Speaker 5: though my feathers do very well, and I cannot dig
• 1:31:15
  Speaker 5: in the ground as you can to hide away from
• 1:31:17
  Speaker 5: cats who often climb up the tree where my nest is.
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 5: So you see you can do some things also, yes,
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 5: said Floppier. I suppose we animals can do the things
• 1:31:28
  Speaker 5: the best intended for us. I must not find fault,
• 1:31:31
  Speaker 5: but I must hurry off. I want to get to
• 1:31:34
  Speaker 5: my home. I don't suppose you know where it is,
• 1:31:36
  Speaker 5: do you? No, I'm sorry to say I do not.
• 1:31:40
  Speaker 5: But I did hear you say you were kept in
• 1:31:42
  Speaker 5: a box by a boy. Yes, his name was Jimmy. Well,
• 1:31:46
  Speaker 5: then if I were you and wanted to keep away
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 5: from him, I would hurry off as fast as I
• 1:31:51
  Speaker 5: could right away, chirped the bird. Suddenly, why Flopier wanted
• 1:31:56
  Speaker 5: to know, Because I can look down on the other
• 1:31:58
  Speaker 5: side of the fence under which you just crawled, said
• 1:32:01
  Speaker 5: the bird, and I can see a boy running over
• 1:32:03
  Speaker 5: this way. He first looked in a box under a tree,
• 1:32:06
  Speaker 5: and then he ran this way. That's Jimmy, said Floppier.
• 1:32:11
  Speaker 5: He came home from school and let me out of
• 1:32:13
  Speaker 5: the box. Then he went into the house, and I
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 5: thought that would be a good chance for me to
• 1:32:17
  Speaker 5: get away, so I ran. Yes, and you had better
• 1:32:21
  Speaker 5: run some more, cried Cheerup. The boy knows you have
• 1:32:24
  Speaker 5: gone and he's after you. Thank you for telling me,
• 1:32:27
  Speaker 5: said the rabbit. It is a good thing you are
• 1:32:30
  Speaker 5: up so high in the tree. You can look down
• 1:32:33
  Speaker 5: on the other side of the fence. Yes, I'll be
• 1:32:35
  Speaker 5: getting along. Jimmy was a good kind boy and gave
• 1:32:39
  Speaker 5: me nice things to eat. Still, this is not my home,
• 1:32:42
  Speaker 5: and I do not like doing tricks. I'm going goodbye, goodbye,
• 1:32:48
  Speaker 5: chirped cheer up. I hope I shall see you again
• 1:32:51
  Speaker 5: some time. And you had better hurry, Flopier, for that
• 1:32:53
  Speaker 5: boy is now right at the fence. He's after you. Well,
• 1:32:57
  Speaker 5: I'm sorry, but he won't get me, said the rabbit.
• 1:33:01
  Speaker 5: As with a jump, he hid himself behind a bush. Then,
• 1:33:04
  Speaker 5: out of sight of the boy, Flopier ran on. As
• 1:33:07
  Speaker 5: for Jimmie, the boy he had come out of the house, and,
• 1:33:11
  Speaker 5: not seeing Floppier where he had left the rabbit, he
• 1:33:13
  Speaker 5: looked about the yard for him. I wonder if he
• 1:33:16
  Speaker 5: can have jumped back into his box, said the boy.
• 1:33:20
  Speaker 5: He looked, but Floppier was not there. It was then
• 1:33:23
  Speaker 5: that the boy ran over to the fence. The bird,
• 1:33:25
  Speaker 5: sitting high in the tree, saw him and told Floppier. Oh, my,
• 1:33:30
  Speaker 5: nice tame trick rabbit has gotten away, cried Jimmy. I
• 1:33:34
  Speaker 5: see a hole under the fence. Maybe he got away
• 1:33:36
  Speaker 5: through that. The boy hurried to the fence near the
• 1:33:39
  Speaker 5: hole Floppier had made and jumped over. But by this
• 1:33:43
  Speaker 5: time Floppier was safely away, as Chirrup could see from
• 1:33:46
  Speaker 5: his perch, and the boy, not having as good a
• 1:33:49
  Speaker 5: nose for smelling rabbit tracks as a dog, could not
• 1:33:51
  Speaker 5: tell which way Floppier had gone. Jimmy looked all around
• 1:33:55
  Speaker 5: and in the bushes, but could not find Floppier. Looking
• 1:33:59
  Speaker 5: up in the tree, the boy saw the bird, Ah,
• 1:34:02
  Speaker 5: little bird, He said, I wish you could talk, and
• 1:34:05
  Speaker 5: maybe you could tell me which way my rabbit went.
• 1:34:08
  Speaker 5: Of course, Cheerup could not answer the boy in his
• 1:34:10
  Speaker 5: own speech, But the bird said to himself, I am
• 1:34:13
  Speaker 5: not going to tell you where flop Eer is, for
• 1:34:16
  Speaker 5: he wants to get away and find his own home.
• 1:34:19
  Speaker 5: You were kind to him, but he just had to
• 1:34:21
  Speaker 5: go away. Then Cheerup flew off, and the boy, after
• 1:34:25
  Speaker 5: looking about a little more for his pet rabbit, gave
• 1:34:27
  Speaker 5: up and went back into the yard. At first, Jimmy
• 1:34:30
  Speaker 5: was quite sad about Floppier's going away, But a week
• 1:34:34
  Speaker 5: afterward he was given a pet dog and he trained
• 1:34:37
  Speaker 5: that to do tricks, so he was happy again. And
• 1:34:40
  Speaker 5: now we shall go back to Flopier and see what
• 1:34:42
  Speaker 5: is happening to the funny little rabbit. Flopier hopped on
• 1:34:45
  Speaker 5: under the bushes until he came to an open field.
• 1:34:48
  Speaker 5: He was so far away from the house now that
• 1:34:50
  Speaker 5: he thought it would be safe to sit up and
• 1:34:52
  Speaker 5: look around. Across the field. He saw some woods, and
• 1:34:56
  Speaker 5: he said to himself, I'll go over into those woods.
• 1:35:00
  Speaker 5: Maybe that is where my home is, and I may
• 1:35:02
  Speaker 5: find pink nose and snuggle there. Oh, how I wish
• 1:35:05
  Speaker 5: I could see them again and have a game of tag.
• 1:35:09
  Speaker 5: Over into the woods, hopped Flopier. He was glad to
• 1:35:12
  Speaker 5: feel again the dried leaves rustling under his paws. He
• 1:35:16
  Speaker 5: liked the cool, shady woods with their carpet of green moss.
• 1:35:19
  Speaker 5: This was much nicer than being shut up in a
• 1:35:21
  Speaker 5: box part of the time, even though there were good
• 1:35:23
  Speaker 5: things to eat. I guess I can find something here,
• 1:35:28
  Speaker 5: thought Floppier. I haven't not a bit of bark since
• 1:35:31
  Speaker 5: I lived with Jimmy. I'll eat some now. Going up
• 1:35:34
  Speaker 5: to a tree, Flopier began nibbling the bark. He had
• 1:35:37
  Speaker 5: eaten two or three mouthfuls when he heard a chattering
• 1:35:39
  Speaker 5: voice calling, Hello down there, who's nibbling at my tree?
• 1:35:44
  Speaker 6: Oh?
• 1:35:44
  Speaker 5: Excuse me, said Flopier. I did not know this was
• 1:35:48
  Speaker 5: your tree.
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 3: Who are you?
• 1:35:49
  Speaker 5: If you please, I am a slick O. The jumping
• 1:35:53
  Speaker 5: squirrel was the answer. Can you see me in my nest?
• 1:35:56
  Speaker 5: Flopier looked up and saw a little gray animal with
• 1:35:59
  Speaker 5: a big bushy tail in her paws. Slicko held a
• 1:36:02
  Speaker 5: nut which she was eating. Oh have you a nest
• 1:36:06
  Speaker 5: up there, asked Floppier. Yes, this is my home. Then
• 1:36:10
  Speaker 5: you must be a bird if you live in a nest,
• 1:36:13
  Speaker 5: remarked the rabbit. Well, yes, in that way, maybe, I
• 1:36:17
  Speaker 5: am laughed Slicko. But we squirrels only live in nests
• 1:36:20
  Speaker 5: in trees in summer. In the winter, we burrow under
• 1:36:23
  Speaker 5: the ground as you rabbits do, Flopier, So you will
• 1:36:26
  Speaker 5: also know my name, do you, asked Flopier.
• 1:36:30
  Speaker 3: Oh, yes, and.
• 1:36:31
  Speaker 5: I'm glad to see you. I was wondering who was
• 1:36:33
  Speaker 5: down there gnawing at my tree. If that's so, I
• 1:36:37
  Speaker 5: suppose this is your tree, since you have your nest
• 1:36:40
  Speaker 5: in it, said Flopier. I can easily noss and bark
• 1:36:44
  Speaker 5: off another. Oh that's all right, shattered Slicko, cheerfully. Not
• 1:36:48
  Speaker 5: all the bark you like, as long as you don't
• 1:36:50
  Speaker 5: take off so much that the tree will die. Bark
• 1:36:53
  Speaker 5: to trees is like skin to us the animals. If
• 1:36:55
  Speaker 5: a tree loses too much skin, it will die. I
• 1:36:59
  Speaker 5: won't take two, match, promised fop Ere. I can only
• 1:37:02
  Speaker 5: stop a little while I am lost in looking for
• 1:37:05
  Speaker 5: my home. Wait a minute, and I'll come down and
• 1:37:08
  Speaker 5: talk to you, said the squirrel as she scrambled down
• 1:37:12
  Speaker 5: from her nest. End of chapter eight recording by Hilary Wiley.
• 1:37:23
  Speaker 7: Chapter nine of flop Ear The Funny Rabbit. This is
• 1:37:26
  Speaker 7: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 1:37:30
  Speaker 7: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 1:37:35
  Speaker 7: Recording by Claire flop Ere The Funny Rabbit by Richard Barnum,
• 1:37:41
  Speaker 7: Chapter nine, flop Ear meets Dido. Well, now we're nice
• 1:37:46
  Speaker 7: and comfortable, let's talk, said Slicko the jumping squirrel, as
• 1:37:50
  Speaker 7: she found a soft place on the bed of moss.
• 1:37:53
  Speaker 7: Flopire picked himself out a nice place. Also, how did
• 1:37:57
  Speaker 7: you happen to get lost? Asked Slicko, And Floppier told
• 1:38:01
  Speaker 7: all about it, just as I have told you so
• 1:38:03
  Speaker 7: far in his book, And I have just run away
• 1:38:07
  Speaker 7: from the nice boy who was teaching me tricks, finished
• 1:38:10
  Speaker 7: flop Ear. So you were caught by a boy, too,
• 1:38:13
  Speaker 7: were you? Asked Slicho. That same thing happened to me,
• 1:38:17
  Speaker 7: it did, cried Floppier in surprise. Yes, some time ago
• 1:38:22
  Speaker 7: that was a boy came to these woods to get
• 1:38:25
  Speaker 7: some nuts and he caught me. What did he do
• 1:38:28
  Speaker 7: with you, Floppier asked. He took me home and put
• 1:38:31
  Speaker 7: me in a wire cage that had a wheel which
• 1:38:34
  Speaker 7: went around very fast. I had some good times in it,
• 1:38:37
  Speaker 7: and I grew to like the boy very much. One
• 1:38:40
  Speaker 7: night a bad man came into the house to take money,
• 1:38:44
  Speaker 7: but I heard him and made such a noise that
• 1:38:46
  Speaker 7: he ran out. And for that the boy's father made
• 1:38:49
  Speaker 7: him let me go so I could come back to
• 1:38:51
  Speaker 7: my woods. My that was a great adventure, cried Floppier.
• 1:38:56
  Speaker 7: Sort of, yes, said Slicho, And if you would like
• 1:39:00
  Speaker 7: to read more about the things that happened to the squirrel,
• 1:39:03
  Speaker 7: you may do so in the book called Slicko The
• 1:39:06
  Speaker 7: Jumping Squirrel, Her Many Adventures. I suppose you met many
• 1:39:11
  Speaker 7: new animals on your travels, said Floppier. Yes, indeed, answered Slicko,
• 1:39:16
  Speaker 7: I met Squinty, the comical pig, and you did, cried Floppier.
• 1:39:21
  Speaker 7: Why I know Squinty His pen is near the burrow
• 1:39:24
  Speaker 7: where I used to live. If you could only show
• 1:39:27
  Speaker 7: me where Squinty is, I could find my way back
• 1:39:29
  Speaker 7: to my home. I wish I could do that for you,
• 1:39:32
  Speaker 7: said Slicko. But I've forgotten where Squinty's pen is. Still,
• 1:39:36
  Speaker 7: I might try, please do, begged flop ear So the
• 1:39:41
  Speaker 7: squirrel and the rabbit went off in the woods together
• 1:39:44
  Speaker 7: looking for Squinty's pen, But it was farther away than
• 1:39:47
  Speaker 7: Slicko thought, and after searching for some time, Slicko said,
• 1:39:52
  Speaker 7: I don't believe I can find it. Floppier. I am sorry,
• 1:39:56
  Speaker 7: Well never mind, returned the rabbit. You had better not
• 1:39:59
  Speaker 7: come too far away from your nest or you'll be lost. Also,
• 1:40:03
  Speaker 7: I must do the best I can by myself. I'd
• 1:40:06
  Speaker 7: ask you to stay with me, went on Slicko. Only
• 1:40:09
  Speaker 7: I know you can't climb a tree to get up
• 1:40:11
  Speaker 7: to my nest. No, I can't climb trees, the rabbit said.
• 1:40:16
  Speaker 7: But I can jump through a hoop and stand up
• 1:40:18
  Speaker 7: on my hind legs and hold a bit of carrot
• 1:40:21
  Speaker 7: on my nose. The boy taught me how to do that.
• 1:40:24
  Speaker 7: I can also pull a little wagon by a collar
• 1:40:27
  Speaker 7: round my neck. But I have no carrot now to
• 1:40:29
  Speaker 7: put on my nose, and there is no wagon here
• 1:40:32
  Speaker 7: to draw, and no hoop to jump through. Still I
• 1:40:35
  Speaker 7: can jump without one. I suppose. Let me see how
• 1:40:39
  Speaker 7: well you jump, said Slicko. So flop Ear gave a
• 1:40:42
  Speaker 7: big jump and asked, can you jump as far as that?
• 1:40:46
  Speaker 7: Slicko not quite as far. I can best do my
• 1:40:50
  Speaker 7: jumping up in a tree this way and scrambling up
• 1:40:53
  Speaker 7: among the branches, the squirrel leaped from one tree limb
• 1:40:56
  Speaker 7: to another, landing as lightly as a feather. That's fine jumping,
• 1:41:01
  Speaker 7: Slicko called Floppier from down on the ground. I can't
• 1:41:04
  Speaker 7: do that. I'd be afraid up so high. Oh, there
• 1:41:07
  Speaker 7: is no danger, the squirrel said. Then the two friends
• 1:41:11
  Speaker 7: talked some more, and just before Slicko went back to
• 1:41:13
  Speaker 7: her nest and Floppier traveled on again, the rabbit said,
• 1:41:17
  Speaker 7: I hope I shall find my folks and my home soon,
• 1:41:20
  Speaker 7: for I am getting quite lonesome. I was glad to
• 1:41:22
  Speaker 7: see you, Slicko, and I was glad to see you,
• 1:41:26
  Speaker 7: chattered the squirrel. Goodbye, good bye, called Flopier. My he
• 1:41:31
  Speaker 7: certainly is a funny rabbit, thought Slicko to herself as
• 1:41:34
  Speaker 7: she watched him going along through the woods with one
• 1:41:36
  Speaker 7: ear up and the other ear down. He makes me
• 1:41:39
  Speaker 7: laugh and feel jolly just to look at him. I
• 1:41:42
  Speaker 7: hope he finds his home. On and on through the
• 1:41:45
  Speaker 7: woods went Floppier. Now and then he would stop and
• 1:41:48
  Speaker 7: thump on the ground with his feet, hoping some of
• 1:41:51
  Speaker 7: his folks might be near and hear him, But no
• 1:41:54
  Speaker 7: answering thumps came, and Floppier felt sad and lonely. That night,
• 1:41:59
  Speaker 7: he found a hole with some dried leaves piled up
• 1:42:02
  Speaker 7: in it, and there he slept. Twas not cold out,
• 1:42:06
  Speaker 7: and as Flopier found some sweet roots to eat and
• 1:42:09
  Speaker 7: a nice spring of water out of which to get
• 1:42:11
  Speaker 7: a drink, he was not so badly off. The wood
• 1:42:15
  Speaker 7: in which Floppier slept that night was near a road
• 1:42:18
  Speaker 7: which was between two large cities. In the middle of
• 1:42:21
  Speaker 7: the night, the rabbit was awakened by hearing a rumbling
• 1:42:23
  Speaker 7: sound that must be thunder. He said to himself, it
• 1:42:27
  Speaker 7: isn't a hunter's gun, for they don't shoot at night.
• 1:42:30
  Speaker 7: I wonder if a storm is coming up. Well, if
• 1:42:33
  Speaker 7: it is, I'll be safe in my hollow tree. I
• 1:42:36
  Speaker 7: guess I'll take a look outside. Though the rumbling noise
• 1:42:39
  Speaker 7: grew louder, But as Flopier looked out, he could see
• 1:42:42
  Speaker 7: no lightning. The moon was shining brightly too, so the
• 1:42:46
  Speaker 7: rabbit knew it could not be a storm. Then, as
• 1:42:49
  Speaker 7: he looked towards the road, he saw some big wagons
• 1:42:52
  Speaker 7: being hauled along by many horses, and from the wagons
• 1:42:56
  Speaker 7: came the smell of wild animals. Why why, exclaimed Floppier,
• 1:43:00
  Speaker 7: wide awake. Now this must be at circus, a circus
• 1:43:04
  Speaker 7: such as Blackie the Cat told me about. She said
• 1:43:07
  Speaker 7: it went from one city to another by night. I
• 1:43:10
  Speaker 7: guess I'll go out and look at it. Nobody will
• 1:43:13
  Speaker 7: mind me, and I may see Tum tum, the jolly
• 1:43:16
  Speaker 7: elephant Blackie told of. I have never seen an elephant.
• 1:43:20
  Speaker 7: Out of his hollow tree, hopped Floppier. The rumbling noise
• 1:43:23
  Speaker 7: was very loud now, for many of the big circus
• 1:43:26
  Speaker 7: wagons were passing along the road. Then some of them stopped,
• 1:43:30
  Speaker 7: for the horses were tired. Flopier hopped up close to
• 1:43:33
  Speaker 7: one wagon, in which he could see a lot of straw. Suddenly,
• 1:43:37
  Speaker 7: a big black animal rose up from the straw and
• 1:43:39
  Speaker 7: looked out through the bars of the cage. The white
• 1:43:42
  Speaker 7: rabbit sitting beside the road was plainly to be seen
• 1:43:45
  Speaker 7: in the moonlight. HULLO, who are you, asked the black
• 1:43:48
  Speaker 7: animal in the circus wagon cage. It was standing still. Now,
• 1:43:53
  Speaker 7: I am, Floppier, the funny rabbit, was the answer. At
• 1:43:56
  Speaker 7: least I suppose I must be funny because everyone says
• 1:43:58
  Speaker 7: I am you are, said the other animal. It makes
• 1:44:01
  Speaker 7: me want to laugh when I look at you. Go
• 1:44:04
  Speaker 7: on laugh all you like, urged flop Ear politely. But
• 1:44:07
  Speaker 7: what is your name? Are you tom Tum the jolly Elephant?
• 1:44:11
  Speaker 2: No?
• 1:44:11
  Speaker 7: Indeed, he is much larger than I. But how did
• 1:44:14
  Speaker 7: you hear about tom Tum from Blackie? A lost cat
• 1:44:18
  Speaker 7: whom I met in the woods. What do you know?
• 1:44:21
  Speaker 3: Blackie?
• 1:44:22
  Speaker 7: Cried the other animal in surprise. And has she found
• 1:44:25
  Speaker 7: her home?
• 1:44:25
  Speaker 3: Yet?
• 1:44:26
  Speaker 7: She had not the time I saw her, answered flop Ear.
• 1:44:30
  Speaker 7: But how is it you know Blackie? Why was the answer?
• 1:44:34
  Speaker 7: I am Dido, the dancing Bear. And it was in
• 1:44:37
  Speaker 7: my cage that Blackie hid in the straw when the
• 1:44:39
  Speaker 7: bad boys were going to tie a tin can to
• 1:44:42
  Speaker 7: her tail. Oh, yes, she told me about that returned flopier.
• 1:44:46
  Speaker 7: So you are ded O, eh, Blackie said you were
• 1:44:49
  Speaker 7: very good to her. Would you mind dancing from me?
• 1:44:52
  Speaker 7: Not at all, said Dido. Though really I have not
• 1:44:55
  Speaker 7: much room in my cage. I do most of my
• 1:44:57
  Speaker 7: dancing out in the circus ring. But while the wagons
• 1:45:00
  Speaker 7: are waiting for the horses to rest, I can dance
• 1:45:03
  Speaker 7: a little for you. And Dido did. He had learned
• 1:45:06
  Speaker 7: to dance when he was first caught in the woods
• 1:45:08
  Speaker 7: in the far away country where he lived. How do
• 1:45:12
  Speaker 7: you like that, he asked the rabbit as he sat
• 1:45:14
  Speaker 7: down on the straw in his cage. Very nicely done, indeed,
• 1:45:17
  Speaker 7: answered Floppier. I am very glad I met you. I've
• 1:45:21
  Speaker 7: met many new friends since I began my adventures. So
• 1:45:25
  Speaker 7: you have had adventures too, have you, asked Dido, tell
• 1:45:28
  Speaker 7: me about them? And Floppier did so. Ha, what is
• 1:45:32
  Speaker 7: all this talk about, asked a growling voice in the
• 1:45:35
  Speaker 7: next cage. You have awakened me. What is it all about?
• 1:45:39
  Speaker 7: Why a friend of mine, a white rabbit, is out
• 1:45:42
  Speaker 7: in the road and I am talking to him, answered Dido.
• 1:45:46
  Speaker 7: At least I call him a friend of mine, though
• 1:45:48
  Speaker 7: I've never met him before. But he knows Blackie, a
• 1:45:51
  Speaker 7: cat whom I know. And as long as he is
• 1:45:53
  Speaker 7: a friend of Blackie's, he is a friend of mine.
• 1:45:56
  Speaker 6: Ha.
• 1:45:57
  Speaker 7: A white rabbit out in the road, eh, went on
• 1:46:00
  Speaker 7: growling voice, and Floppier saw some glaring eyes looking out
• 1:46:03
  Speaker 7: at him from the wagon cage next to that of Dido.
• 1:46:06
  Speaker 7: The dancing bear. I used to eat white rabbits in
• 1:46:09
  Speaker 7: my country in the jungle, growled the voice. I would
• 1:46:13
  Speaker 7: eat you too if I could get at you. And
• 1:46:15
  Speaker 7: a big paw with sharp claws on it was thrust
• 1:46:18
  Speaker 7: out of the cage. Don't mind him, said Dido to Floppier,
• 1:46:21
  Speaker 7: who was getting ready to hop away. That's striped the tiger.
• 1:46:25
  Speaker 7: He's rather cross to night. But really he wouldn't hurt
• 1:46:28
  Speaker 7: any one. Yes, I would, growled Stripe. Oh no, you
• 1:46:32
  Speaker 7: wouldn't you know, you wouldn't, laughed Dido, the dancing bear.
• 1:46:36
  Speaker 7: Go on, Flopier, tell me more about yourself. So Floppier did,
• 1:46:40
  Speaker 7: and the bear said he hoped the rabbit would soon
• 1:46:42
  Speaker 7: find his home. I hope so myself, sighed Flopier. I
• 1:46:47
  Speaker 7: am getting quite lonesome without my fulks. From down the
• 1:46:50
  Speaker 7: road came the sound of a horn. Huh, that means
• 1:46:54
  Speaker 7: the circus wagons are going to start once more, said Dido.
• 1:46:57
  Speaker 7: Good Bye, Flopier. I'm glad I met you. Give my
• 1:47:00
  Speaker 7: love to Blacky the cat. If you meet her again,
• 1:47:03
  Speaker 7: I will, promised the rabbit. Do you think, Dido? He
• 1:47:06
  Speaker 7: asked that I could have a look at Tom Tum,
• 1:47:09
  Speaker 7: the jolly elephant. I should like to tell my brother
• 1:47:12
  Speaker 7: and sister, if I ever find them again, that I
• 1:47:14
  Speaker 7: had seen a real live circus elephant. See Tom Tom, Why, certainly,
• 1:47:19
  Speaker 7: said Dido. The elephants are farther up ahead. If you
• 1:47:23
  Speaker 7: run along there you'll see them. Tom Tom is the
• 1:47:26
  Speaker 7: first elephant and the largest. Tell em I sent you,
• 1:47:29
  Speaker 7: I will, said Floppier. He hopped forward just as the
• 1:47:33
  Speaker 7: wagons were beginning to move. Then Flopier saw some of
• 1:47:36
  Speaker 7: the largest animals he had ever seen in his life.
• 1:47:39
  Speaker 7: There were a number of them, and they were as
• 1:47:41
  Speaker 7: big as the wagons in which the other animals were carried.
• 1:47:44
  Speaker 7: These must be the elephants, thought Floppier. He was so
• 1:47:48
  Speaker 7: surprised at their bigness that he stood still in the road.
• 1:47:51
  Speaker 7: Then all of a sudden a voice cried right in
• 1:47:54
  Speaker 7: his ear. Look out there, little white animal, And all
• 1:47:58
  Speaker 7: at once the next thing Floppier, and he was being
• 1:48:00
  Speaker 7: lifted high in the air. End of Chapter nine. Recording
• 1:48:06
  Speaker 7: by Claire.
• 1:48:13
  Speaker 6: Chapter ten A Flopier the Funny Rabbit. This is a
• 1:48:18
  Speaker 6: labrifox recording. All labrifox recordings are in the public domain.
• 1:48:23
  Speaker 6: For more information or to volunteer, please visit labrifox dot
• 1:48:28
  Speaker 6: Org Flopier The Funny Rabbit by Richard Barnum, Chapter ten,
• 1:48:34
  Speaker 6: Flopier Help some Mice. Floppier did not know what was
• 1:48:39
  Speaker 6: happening to him. All he knew was that he was
• 1:48:42
  Speaker 6: going up much higher than the time he had hopped
• 1:48:46
  Speaker 6: into the wood basket and had been lifted up by
• 1:48:50
  Speaker 6: the boy, and something seemed to be squeezing him, as
• 1:48:54
  Speaker 6: though a snake had him. The rabbit knew about snakes.
• 1:48:58
  Speaker 6: There were some big ones in the world wood where
• 1:49:00
  Speaker 6: he had once lived, and his father and mother had
• 1:49:03
  Speaker 6: told him that a snake could squeeze a rabbit to death.
• 1:49:07
  Speaker 6: Once Flopier saw a little snake crawling along, and it
• 1:49:11
  Speaker 6: put its tongue out and in so fast that the
• 1:49:15
  Speaker 6: rabbit could hardly see it. I guess a snake has me,
• 1:49:19
  Speaker 6: thought Flopier. Oh dear, I'm going to ask him to
• 1:49:23
  Speaker 6: let me go. So in the loudest voice he could command,
• 1:49:27
  Speaker 6: Floppier cried, please, mister snake, let me go, and don't
• 1:49:33
  Speaker 6: squeeze me. So I am not a snake, was the answer,
• 1:49:37
  Speaker 6: in a deep, rumbly voice. And I had to squeeze
• 1:49:40
  Speaker 6: you just a little bit to lift you out of
• 1:49:43
  Speaker 6: the way. You were just going to be run over
• 1:49:46
  Speaker 6: by one of the big circus wagon wheels, and I
• 1:49:49
  Speaker 6: picked you up in my trunk and lifted you out
• 1:49:53
  Speaker 6: of the way. Now you are safe, and I will
• 1:49:56
  Speaker 6: suck you down again. Floppier felt himself eloping gently lowered
• 1:50:01
  Speaker 6: to the ground, and he laughed as he said. If
• 1:50:05
  Speaker 6: you lifted me up in your trunk, then you must
• 1:50:08
  Speaker 6: be an express man or an elephant. I am an elephant,
• 1:50:13
  Speaker 6: was the answer, and the big animal laughed. I am Floppier,
• 1:50:18
  Speaker 6: A funny rabbit, said our little white friend. I am lost,
• 1:50:23
  Speaker 6: and I just was talking to Dido, the dancing bear.
• 1:50:27
  Speaker 6: He sent me up here to see Tum Tum, the
• 1:50:30
  Speaker 6: jolly elephant. I should like to see him. Which of
• 1:50:33
  Speaker 6: the elephants is he? I am tum Tum, was the
• 1:50:38
  Speaker 6: laughing answer. Oh I am so glad to meet you,
• 1:50:42
  Speaker 6: said the rabbit. And I am ever so much obliged
• 1:50:45
  Speaker 6: to you for lifting me out of the way of
• 1:50:48
  Speaker 6: the big wagon wheel. If it had run over me,
• 1:50:51
  Speaker 6: I guess I would have been hurt. Hurt, I should say, so,
• 1:50:55
  Speaker 6: cried Tum Tum. You would have been made as flat
• 1:50:59
  Speaker 6: as a panco. But you are all right now. Flopier,
• 1:51:03
  Speaker 6: and you had better run away, for more circus wagons
• 1:51:07
  Speaker 6: are coming, and I cannot stay to lift you to
• 1:51:10
  Speaker 6: one side, much as I should like to, so hop
• 1:51:13
  Speaker 6: along I will, answered Flopier. Thank you again, and good bye.
• 1:51:19
  Speaker 6: I am glad I met you, and I that I
• 1:51:22
  Speaker 6: met you, said Tom Tum politely. Good bye, and I
• 1:51:26
  Speaker 6: hope you find your home again. So Flopier hopped to
• 1:51:30
  Speaker 6: one side of the road where he would be safe.
• 1:51:32
  Speaker 6: The rabbit looked at the circus wagons moving along the
• 1:51:35
  Speaker 6: road in the moonlight. There were many cages of wild animals,
• 1:51:39
  Speaker 6: but the big elephants walked along by themselves, as did
• 1:51:43
  Speaker 6: the camels and the horses. Pretty soon along came the
• 1:51:47
  Speaker 6: cage of Dido, the dancing bear. Diido looked out and
• 1:51:51
  Speaker 6: saw Flopier again. Well, little white rabbit, did you see
• 1:51:56
  Speaker 6: tom Tum, asked the bear. Yes, answered Flopier, I did,
• 1:52:01
  Speaker 6: and he saved me from being run over by lifting
• 1:52:03
  Speaker 6: me up in his trunk. Good, cried Ido. Tom Dum
• 1:52:08
  Speaker 6: is always helping others. Once my wagon cage was held
• 1:52:12
  Speaker 6: fast in the mud, and Tom Tum pushed it out
• 1:52:15
  Speaker 6: with his big head. He is very strong. He is
• 1:52:19
  Speaker 6: indeed said Flopier. Good Bye, Ido, Good bye Flopier, said
• 1:52:25
  Speaker 6: the bear, and then his cage passed on. Well that
• 1:52:29
  Speaker 6: was quite an adventure, said Floppier to himself, as he
• 1:52:33
  Speaker 6: hopped back to the hollow tree where he had been sleeping.
• 1:52:37
  Speaker 6: It is not every rabbit who can see a circus
• 1:52:40
  Speaker 6: in the middle of the night. I think I'll eat
• 1:52:42
  Speaker 6: some clover before I go back to bed. Flopier had
• 1:52:45
  Speaker 6: to pass through a grassy field to get back to
• 1:52:48
  Speaker 6: his hollow tree, and he stopped to nibble a few
• 1:52:51
  Speaker 6: sweet heads of clover, and he snuggled down in the
• 1:52:54
  Speaker 6: soft leaves that made his bed and was soon asleep again.
• 1:52:58
  Speaker 6: The morning sun peeped in on Flopier as he lay
• 1:53:01
  Speaker 6: in the hollow tree. The white rabbit opened his eyes,
• 1:53:05
  Speaker 6: and for a moment he could not think where he was.
• 1:53:08
  Speaker 6: Oh now I remember, he said to himself, as he
• 1:53:11
  Speaker 6: looked over toward the road along which the circus had passed.
• 1:53:16
  Speaker 6: I remember about last night and how Tum Tum saved me.
• 1:53:20
  Speaker 6: I'll have lots to tell, pink nose and snuggle if
• 1:53:23
  Speaker 6: I ever get back to them. I wonder if I'll
• 1:53:26
  Speaker 6: ever find my home again. Flopper was hungry When he
• 1:53:30
  Speaker 6: awoke and he began to look for his breakfast, he
• 1:53:34
  Speaker 6: did not do, as you have to do, wait for
• 1:53:37
  Speaker 6: a table to be set and for something to be cooked.
• 1:53:40
  Speaker 6: All Flopier had to do was to hop out of
• 1:53:43
  Speaker 6: bed down in among the clover and eat as much
• 1:53:46
  Speaker 6: as he liked. He could gnaw bark from a tree too,
• 1:53:51
  Speaker 6: But before he ate, he took a nice drink of
• 1:53:53
  Speaker 6: water from a little brook in the field and washed
• 1:53:56
  Speaker 6: his face. And pause, just as you take a little
• 1:53:59
  Speaker 6: bath before where you have breakfast. Well, I wonder what
• 1:54:03
  Speaker 6: will happen to me to day, thought Flopier, when he
• 1:54:06
  Speaker 6: had eaten as much as he needed. I don't know
• 1:54:09
  Speaker 6: whether I am hopping toward my home or away from it.
• 1:54:13
  Speaker 6: But still I must keep on, and I am not
• 1:54:17
  Speaker 6: going near any more houses, for I do not want
• 1:54:20
  Speaker 6: to be caught by a boy and maid to do tricks.
• 1:54:23
  Speaker 6: Though I will say that Jimmie was very good to me.
• 1:54:26
  Speaker 6: Flopier saw a stump in the clover field, and he
• 1:54:29
  Speaker 6: thought if he could hop up on that, he could
• 1:54:33
  Speaker 6: look around him and see which was the best way
• 1:54:36
  Speaker 6: to go. It will raise me up higher, that stump, will,
• 1:54:40
  Speaker 6: said Flopier, not as high as a bird, it is true,
• 1:54:44
  Speaker 6: but still higher than if I were on the ground.
• 1:54:47
  Speaker 6: I'll see what I can look at up on the
• 1:54:49
  Speaker 6: stump with a big hop up one Flopier. Then he
• 1:54:53
  Speaker 6: looked all around. On one side was woods, on the
• 1:54:56
  Speaker 6: other a field, on another a running brook, and on
• 1:55:00
  Speaker 6: the last side was a road. I'll see if I
• 1:55:03
  Speaker 6: can cross that brook, thought Flopier. Then if there are
• 1:55:07
  Speaker 6: any dogs around here, they can't so well follow me
• 1:55:11
  Speaker 6: at least for a while. Yes, I shall go over
• 1:55:14
  Speaker 6: on the other side of the brook. The brook was
• 1:55:16
  Speaker 6: not very deep, and flop Eer could easily wade across it.
• 1:55:22
  Speaker 6: On the other side, he found some sweet roots to eat,
• 1:55:26
  Speaker 6: and going on a little farther, he came to a
• 1:55:28
  Speaker 6: field of cabbages. Oh, this is fine, thought flop Eer.
• 1:55:33
  Speaker 6: I shall have a good dinner here. I wish the
• 1:55:36
  Speaker 6: rest of the folks were with me to enjoy it too.
• 1:55:39
  Speaker 6: This is just fine. Flop Eer picked out a nice
• 1:55:43
  Speaker 6: tender cabbage and ate some of the leaves. It was
• 1:55:46
  Speaker 6: as good to him as candy is to you, and
• 1:55:49
  Speaker 6: much better for a rabbit. If I had a trunk
• 1:55:52
  Speaker 6: like tum Tum the elephant, said Flopier, I might carry
• 1:55:57
  Speaker 6: a lot of this cabbage with me, and when I
• 1:56:00
  Speaker 6: became hungry again, I could eat it. But I can't
• 1:56:03
  Speaker 6: do that. I can only carry a little, so I'll
• 1:56:06
  Speaker 6: just have to hop on and hope that I'll find
• 1:56:09
  Speaker 6: another field of the green heads, or perhaps a field
• 1:56:12
  Speaker 6: of carrots. They would be fine too. Once more, the
• 1:56:16
  Speaker 6: funny bunny hopped on, his one floppy ear hanging down
• 1:56:21
  Speaker 6: and the other one sticking up straight. A little toad
• 1:56:24
  Speaker 6: in the grass laughed as the bunny hopped pasted. What
• 1:56:28
  Speaker 6: are you laughing at, asked Flopier. At you, answered the toad.
• 1:56:32
  Speaker 6: It looks so funny. I hope you don't mind not
• 1:56:36
  Speaker 6: a bit, said Flopier. Laugh all you like, and the
• 1:56:39
  Speaker 6: toad did. While the rabbit hopped on, Flopier had not
• 1:56:43
  Speaker 6: gone very much farther when he heard a funny, little
• 1:56:46
  Speaker 6: squeaking noise. Ha, I wonder what that is, he asked himself.
• 1:56:50
  Speaker 6: I never heard a sound like that before. I must
• 1:56:53
  Speaker 6: see what it is. Flopier hopped on a little farther,
• 1:56:57
  Speaker 6: and then he saw, near a big rock in the
• 1:56:59
  Speaker 6: field a box, and the squeaking noise seemed to come
• 1:57:03
  Speaker 6: from that. Ha a box, exclaimed Flopier. I'm not going
• 1:57:09
  Speaker 6: near that. I was kept in a box once, and
• 1:57:12
  Speaker 6: I don't want that to happen again. I'll get away
• 1:57:16
  Speaker 6: from here. Flop Eer was just turning to hop away
• 1:57:19
  Speaker 6: when he heard some voices speaking in the box. Oh, mother, dear,
• 1:57:25
  Speaker 6: a little voice said, do you think we shall ever
• 1:57:27
  Speaker 6: get out of here? I'm afraid not, switchy was the answer.
• 1:57:31
  Speaker 6: We are in this trap and we can never get out.
• 1:57:35
  Speaker 6: I have tried and tried, but the wood is so
• 1:57:37
  Speaker 6: hard that I cannot nod with my small teeth. Perhaps
• 1:57:42
  Speaker 6: Papa will come and gnaw us out, said another little voice.
• 1:57:46
  Speaker 6: I'm afraid he could not get us out. My children,
• 1:57:49
  Speaker 6: Oh dear, why did I ever lead you into this trap?
• 1:57:54
  Speaker 6: Ha a trap, exclaimed Flopier. These are animals like my
• 1:58:00
  Speaker 6: self in trouble. I must see if I could not
• 1:58:03
  Speaker 6: help them. The white rabbit hopped over close to the box,
• 1:58:07
  Speaker 6: and looking in through some wire netting that was on
• 1:58:10
  Speaker 6: one side, he asked, what is the matter in there?
• 1:58:15
  Speaker 6: Oh mother, cried a squeaky voice. Look, there is a
• 1:58:19
  Speaker 6: big white rabbit. Floppier looking in the box trap saw
• 1:58:24
  Speaker 6: a mother mouse and five little mice. They came close
• 1:58:27
  Speaker 6: to the wire, and the mother mouse said, oh, we
• 1:58:30
  Speaker 6: are in such trouble. We are a family of field mice,
• 1:58:34
  Speaker 6: and our home is in a hole in the ground
• 1:58:36
  Speaker 6: not far away. A little while ago I went for
• 1:58:39
  Speaker 6: a walk with my children. We came to this box.
• 1:58:43
  Speaker 6: Inside was some nice cheese, and, thinking of no harm,
• 1:58:48
  Speaker 6: we went in and began to eat it all at once.
• 1:58:51
  Speaker 6: The trap snapshot and we could not get out. We
• 1:58:54
  Speaker 6: are caught here, and though I am a pretty good gnower,
• 1:58:58
  Speaker 6: I cannot now this would. Don't worry, said Flopier. Perhaps
• 1:59:03
  Speaker 6: I can help you. Oh if you only could, said
• 1:59:07
  Speaker 6: missus mouse. My husband did not come walking with us,
• 1:59:11
  Speaker 6: so he did not get caught in the trap, but
• 1:59:14
  Speaker 6: he may come to look for us, and he will
• 1:59:17
  Speaker 6: feel very sorry when he finds us caught. Well, I
• 1:59:21
  Speaker 6: have strong teeth, and I will soon gnaw a hole
• 1:59:24
  Speaker 6: in that box so you can get out. And Flopier
• 1:59:27
  Speaker 6: began to gnaw. End of chapter ten Chapter eleven of
• 1:59:38
  Speaker 6: flop Ear The Funny Rabbit. This is a librifox recording.
• 1:59:43
  Speaker 6: All librifox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 1:59:47
  Speaker 6: information or to volunteer, please visit librifox dot org. Flop
• 1:59:53
  Speaker 6: Ear The Funny Rabbit by Richard Barnum, Chapter eleven, flop
• 1:59:59
  Speaker 6: Eer and the Monkey. That wood is very hard to gnaw,
• 2:00:03
  Speaker 6: isn't it, asked the mother mouse, as she with her
• 2:00:07
  Speaker 6: little children mice inside the trap looked out at flop Ear.
• 2:00:12
  Speaker 6: It was too hard for my teeth. I don't see
• 2:00:15
  Speaker 6: how you can bite through it. Oh, I do not
• 2:00:19
  Speaker 6: have much trouble, replied the rabbit, speaking in animal language.
• 2:00:23
  Speaker 6: Of course, you see, I learned to gnaw bark off
• 2:00:27
  Speaker 6: trees when I was a little baby rabbit, and now
• 2:00:30
  Speaker 6: it is no trouble for me to bite a hole
• 2:00:32
  Speaker 6: in the wood of this trap. Of course, I could
• 2:00:35
  Speaker 6: not gnaw where there is wire netting, but the wood
• 2:00:38
  Speaker 6: part does not bother me. I am glad of that,
• 2:00:42
  Speaker 6: returned the mother mouse, for I would not like to
• 2:00:45
  Speaker 6: give you too much trouble. It is no trouble when
• 2:00:48
  Speaker 6: I am helping, someone said flop Ear. Not long ago,
• 2:00:53
  Speaker 6: tom Tum, the jolly elephant helped me by lifting me
• 2:00:57
  Speaker 6: up in his trunk so I would not be run
• 2:00:59
  Speaker 6: over by a circus wagon. Now I am helping you.
• 2:01:03
  Speaker 6: Perhaps some day you may help Dumtum. Oh mother exclaimed switchy,
• 2:01:09
  Speaker 6: how could little things such as we mice are help
• 2:01:13
  Speaker 6: a big elephant. I do not know, switchy, answered the
• 2:01:17
  Speaker 6: mother mouse. But stranger things have happened, And I think
• 2:01:22
  Speaker 6: perhaps you children remembered the story of how once a
• 2:01:26
  Speaker 6: lion was caught in a net, and how a little
• 2:01:29
  Speaker 6: mouse gnawed through the ropes of the net so the
• 2:01:32
  Speaker 6: lion could get out. And if a mouse could help
• 2:01:35
  Speaker 6: a lion, which is a big animal, a mouse might
• 2:01:39
  Speaker 6: help an elephant. So you see, flop Ear was not
• 2:01:42
  Speaker 6: so very far wrong. The white rabbit kept on gnawing
• 2:01:46
  Speaker 6: away at the outside of the wooden box trap, and
• 2:01:49
  Speaker 6: he soon had a hole almost through. The mother mouse
• 2:01:53
  Speaker 6: and the little mice heard the gnawing sounds, and they
• 2:01:56
  Speaker 6: were glad, for they hoped soon to be free and
• 2:01:59
  Speaker 6: to run back to their home and to the Papa.
• 2:02:03
  Speaker 6: It will not need a very large hole to let
• 2:02:05
  Speaker 6: such little mice as we are crawl through, said the mother,
• 2:02:09
  Speaker 6: speaking through the wires to flop Eer. So do not
• 2:02:13
  Speaker 6: tire your jaws and teeth too much by biting a
• 2:02:15
  Speaker 6: big hole. I won't returned the white rabbit. I do
• 2:02:20
  Speaker 6: not see why any one would want to catch such
• 2:02:23
  Speaker 6: dear little mice as you are. Perhaps the trap was
• 2:02:26
  Speaker 6: set to catch some big mice or some rats, said
• 2:02:30
  Speaker 6: the mother field mouse, and we just got into it
• 2:02:33
  Speaker 6: by mistake. Never again will I go in to get
• 2:02:37
  Speaker 6: cheese out of a box. I will eat the things
• 2:02:40
  Speaker 6: I find in the woods and fields. Yes, that is safest,
• 2:02:45
  Speaker 6: agreed flop Ear. I was caught once myself and kept
• 2:02:49
  Speaker 6: in a box by a boy. I did not like it, though,
• 2:02:52
  Speaker 6: I must say the boy was very kind and good
• 2:02:55
  Speaker 6: to me. So when I heard you talking in here
• 2:02:58
  Speaker 6: about being caught, I thought the best thing I could
• 2:03:01
  Speaker 6: do would be to set you loose. And oh, how
• 2:03:04
  Speaker 6: glad we will be to run about on the ground
• 2:03:07
  Speaker 6: once more, said the mother mouse. I was afraid we
• 2:03:11
  Speaker 6: would never get out. All the while he was talking,
• 2:03:14
  Speaker 6: flop Ear was gnawing away at the side of the trap.
• 2:03:18
  Speaker 6: Up and down went his four big front gnawing teeth,
• 2:03:21
  Speaker 6: two in the upper jaw and two in the lower.
• 2:03:24
  Speaker 6: They were almost like the chisels a carpenter uses when
• 2:03:27
  Speaker 6: he is smoothing down a piece of wood. Beavers are
• 2:03:30
  Speaker 6: great gnars two, and they have four large front teeth,
• 2:03:35
  Speaker 6: just as has a rabbit, a rat, or a mouse.
• 2:03:39
  Speaker 6: Only a beaver's teeth are orange colored. Why that is
• 2:03:43
  Speaker 6: I do not know. There, cried the white rabbit. At last,
• 2:03:48
  Speaker 6: I have not a hole for you, missus mouse. I
• 2:03:51
  Speaker 6: think you and your little ones can get out of that,
• 2:03:54
  Speaker 6: but be careful you do not get stuck. Make sure
• 2:03:57
  Speaker 6: the hole is large enough. If it is not, I
• 2:04:00
  Speaker 6: will make it bicker. I'll try it first, said the
• 2:04:03
  Speaker 6: mouse mother. If it is large enough for me, it
• 2:04:06
  Speaker 6: will be big enough for my little ones. So the
• 2:04:08
  Speaker 6: mouse mother first poked her head out of the hole
• 2:04:11
  Speaker 6: which Floppier had gnawed. Then she found she could get
• 2:04:15
  Speaker 6: her front paws out, and by squeezing a little she
• 2:04:19
  Speaker 6: could get all the way out. Come on, children, she cried,
• 2:04:24
  Speaker 6: it's all right now we can get out of the trap.
• 2:04:28
  Speaker 6: Oh how good it is to be free again. Now
• 2:04:31
  Speaker 6: we can go back to our home, back to your father. Oh, Flopier,
• 2:04:36
  Speaker 6: I do not know how to thank you enough. Well.
• 2:04:39
  Speaker 6: I am very glad I could help you out, said
• 2:04:41
  Speaker 6: the white rabbit. Are you sure you can find your
• 2:04:44
  Speaker 6: way to your home now?
• 2:04:46
  Speaker 7: Oh?
• 2:04:47
  Speaker 6: Yes, it is only a little way from here. Now,
• 2:04:50
  Speaker 6: said the mouse mother. We will soon be there. Will
• 2:04:53
  Speaker 6: you not come and pay us a little visit? Of
• 2:04:55
  Speaker 6: course you are so large that you would not fit
• 2:04:58
  Speaker 6: in our tiny home. But you you could sit outside,
• 2:05:01
  Speaker 6: and I am sure mister mouse would be glad to
• 2:05:04
  Speaker 6: meet you and thank you for what you have done
• 2:05:06
  Speaker 6: for us. Do come, I will, said Floppier. Thank you.
• 2:05:11
  Speaker 6: This is the way to our house, said the mother mouse.
• 2:05:14
  Speaker 6: We shall soon be there. She led the way, and
• 2:05:17
  Speaker 6: the little field mice followed after, just like Jill tumbling
• 2:05:21
  Speaker 6: down the hill after Jack, who went to get a
• 2:05:24
  Speaker 6: pail of water, and Floppier came last. The rabbit had
• 2:05:28
  Speaker 6: to hop very slowly or he would have gone on
• 2:05:31
  Speaker 6: far ahead of the little mice. Here is our home,
• 2:05:34
  Speaker 6: said the mother mouse, as she pointed with her paw
• 2:05:38
  Speaker 6: to a little hole in the ground. And there is
• 2:05:40
  Speaker 6: your father children. See another field mouse came running up
• 2:05:45
  Speaker 6: out of the hole. His fur was all twisted topsy turvy,
• 2:05:49
  Speaker 6: sidewise and backwards, and his whiskers were crooked. He seemed
• 2:05:54
  Speaker 6: very much excited. Oh where have you been, called the
• 2:05:57
  Speaker 6: father mouse as he saw the mother in her chain.
• 2:06:00
  Speaker 6: I have looked all over for you. I went all
• 2:06:03
  Speaker 6: through the underground house, but I could not find you.
• 2:06:07
  Speaker 6: I thought something had happened, something did happen, said the
• 2:06:11
  Speaker 6: mother mouse. We were caught in a trap, but this
• 2:06:15
  Speaker 6: kind rabbit, Flopier, nod as out. I asked him to
• 2:06:19
  Speaker 6: come home with us, though of course he couldnt get
• 2:06:22
  Speaker 6: inside our little house. I am very glad to see you, Flopier,
• 2:06:27
  Speaker 6: said mister mouse. It was very kind of you to
• 2:06:30
  Speaker 6: get my family out of a trap. I could not
• 2:06:33
  Speaker 6: think what had happened to them. Oh, it was easy
• 2:06:36
  Speaker 6: to get them out once I started to gnaw, said
• 2:06:40
  Speaker 6: the rabbit. It was a pleasure to help them. I
• 2:06:43
  Speaker 6: am lost myself and far from my home, so I
• 2:06:47
  Speaker 6: know how glad other animals must be to get back
• 2:06:50
  Speaker 6: to theirs. Then the mouse lady showed Floppier where near
• 2:06:54
  Speaker 6: her home some sweet clover grew, and the rabbit ate
• 2:06:58
  Speaker 6: that he also had some nice roots, the same kind
• 2:07:02
  Speaker 6: that mister and missus mouse ate for their dinner. Only
• 2:07:06
  Speaker 6: of course, Flapier ate a great deal more than the
• 2:07:10
  Speaker 6: mice did, as he was so much larger than they.
• 2:07:13
  Speaker 6: But there were plenty of roots for all. That night,
• 2:07:17
  Speaker 6: the white rabbit slept in a hole under a big rock.
• 2:07:20
  Speaker 6: He found some soft leaves and some cotton from the
• 2:07:24
  Speaker 6: inside of the milkweed plant. With which to make a bed,
• 2:07:28
  Speaker 6: and Flopier had almost as good a place as if
• 2:07:31
  Speaker 6: he had been in his own borough. Of course, it
• 2:07:33
  Speaker 6: was not home, and he was lonesome for his own folks.
• 2:07:38
  Speaker 6: But he thought perhaps in a few days he might
• 2:07:40
  Speaker 6: come to the place where he had used to live
• 2:07:43
  Speaker 6: and find Lady Munch and the others. And if I do,
• 2:07:47
  Speaker 6: said Flapier, how happy I shall be. The next morning,
• 2:07:52
  Speaker 6: Flopier breakfasted with the Mouse family. He could not, of course,
• 2:07:57
  Speaker 6: go down into their little house underground, but they brought
• 2:08:01
  Speaker 6: their breakfast up, and they all sat around a flat
• 2:08:04
  Speaker 6: rock which was almost like a table while they ate. Well,
• 2:08:09
  Speaker 6: good bye, said Floppier after a bit, having finished his breakfast.
• 2:08:14
  Speaker 6: I think I had better be going on. I want
• 2:08:17
  Speaker 6: to find my home, and I hope you do find it,
• 2:08:21
  Speaker 6: said mister Mouse, for the white rabbit had told how
• 2:08:24
  Speaker 6: the hunter had chased him and how he had become lost. Well,
• 2:08:29
  Speaker 6: good bye, repeated the white rabbit. All be ginning on
• 2:08:32
  Speaker 6: now it will be winter in a few more weeks,
• 2:08:35
  Speaker 6: I fear, and I do not want to be lost
• 2:08:38
  Speaker 6: out in the woods and fields. Then I want to
• 2:08:41
  Speaker 6: get back to my own home before cold weather. I
• 2:08:44
  Speaker 6: should think you would, said missus mouse. But if you
• 2:08:48
  Speaker 6: cannot find your place, come back to us. You could
• 2:08:51
  Speaker 6: dig with your feet and make our house bigger, and
• 2:08:54
  Speaker 6: then you could live with us. Thank you very much,
• 2:08:57
  Speaker 6: replied the white rabbit. Perhaps I shall come back. So
• 2:09:01
  Speaker 6: he hopped on again, going through the woods and over
• 2:09:04
  Speaker 6: the fields, hoping to come to his own burrow. And
• 2:09:08
  Speaker 6: on his travels Floppier had many adventures. There is not
• 2:09:13
  Speaker 6: room enough in this boat to tell you all of them,
• 2:09:16
  Speaker 6: but I can mention a few. Once he was crossing
• 2:09:19
  Speaker 6: a deep brook on a fallen log, and he slipped
• 2:09:22
  Speaker 6: off and fell into the water. Flopier was not a
• 2:09:25
  Speaker 6: very good swimmer, but he did get out after a
• 2:09:28
  Speaker 6: while all went. He had to lie down in the
• 2:09:31
  Speaker 6: sun to dry. Another time, he was eating some clover
• 2:09:35
  Speaker 6: in a field. A bee came along and, by mistake,
• 2:09:39
  Speaker 6: stung Flopier on the nose. Ouch, cried the white rabbit. Ouch. Oh,
• 2:09:45
  Speaker 6: excuse me, said the bee. I did not mean to
• 2:09:47
  Speaker 6: do that. Oh how it hurts, cried Floppier. What shall
• 2:09:53
  Speaker 6: I do? Go and find some soft mud and put
• 2:09:56
  Speaker 6: that on the place where I stung, you, said the bee.
• 2:10:00
  Speaker 6: That will make it better. Floppier found a place near
• 2:10:03
  Speaker 6: a spring where there was some soft black mud. He
• 2:10:06
  Speaker 6: put some of this on the outside of his nose,
• 2:10:10
  Speaker 6: and the pain was soon lessened. Then Flopier hopped on again,
• 2:10:15
  Speaker 6: looking as he went for the place where he lived,
• 2:10:18
  Speaker 6: but he could not find it. Dry as he did,
• 2:10:21
  Speaker 6: he could not see the underground house. He met other rabbits,
• 2:10:26
  Speaker 6: but none whom he knew. Some of them invited him
• 2:10:30
  Speaker 6: to stay with them, but Flopier said he would rather
• 2:10:33
  Speaker 6: find his own house, though he thanked the kind rabbits. Then,
• 2:10:38
  Speaker 6: one day, as Flopier was hopping along through the woods,
• 2:10:42
  Speaker 6: he heard a voice calling to him from up in
• 2:10:44
  Speaker 6: a tree. I say, white rabbit, bawled the voice. Who
• 2:10:49
  Speaker 6: are you and where are you going? I am Floppier
• 2:10:54
  Speaker 6: and I am looking for my home. The bunny answered,
• 2:10:57
  Speaker 6: who are you? I am Mappo the merry monkey was
• 2:11:01
  Speaker 6: the answer, Wait a minute, and I will come down
• 2:11:04
  Speaker 6: and talk to you. And then the queer animal, who
• 2:11:07
  Speaker 6: had four hands and a long tail, came scrambling down
• 2:11:11
  Speaker 6: the tree. End of chapter eleven.
• 2:11:20
  Speaker 2: Chapter twelve of flop Ear The Funny Rabbit. This is
• 2:11:25
  Speaker 2: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 2:11:29
  Speaker 2: For more information or two volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 2:11:34
  Speaker 2: Flop Ear The Funny Rabbit by Richard Barnum, Chapter twelve,
• 2:11:39
  Speaker 2: flop Ear gets home again. What are you doing in
• 2:11:42
  Speaker 2: these woods? Asked Mapo of flop Ear, as soon as
• 2:11:47
  Speaker 2: the merry monkey had seated himself on a soft cushion
• 2:11:50
  Speaker 2: of green moss at the foot of the tree. I
• 2:11:53
  Speaker 2: am hopping through them trying to find my lost home,
• 2:11:56
  Speaker 2: answered flop Ear. I live in woods like these, but
• 2:12:00
  Speaker 2: not in this part. I'm lost. What are you doing here? Well,
• 2:12:05
  Speaker 2: I'm staying here for a while, answered Mapo. Years ago,
• 2:12:08
  Speaker 2: when I was a little fellow, I used to live
• 2:12:10
  Speaker 2: in the woods, but not here. In my country, it
• 2:12:12
  Speaker 2: was very warm. It was what was called a jungle.
• 2:12:15
  Speaker 2: Tum Tum, the jolly elephant lived in a jungle, said Floppier.
• 2:12:20
  Speaker 3: What do you know?
• 2:12:20
  Speaker 2: Tum Tum asked Mapo in surprise. Oh, I have met him,
• 2:12:25
  Speaker 2: the rabbit replied. I was near the circus where he was,
• 2:12:29
  Speaker 2: and Dido, the dancing bear, and tum Tum saved my life.
• 2:12:32
  Speaker 2: Then Floppier told how the elephant lifted him up in
• 2:12:36
  Speaker 2: his trunk and pulled him out from under the circus
• 2:12:39
  Speaker 2: wagon wheel. But you spoke of tum Tum as though
• 2:12:41
  Speaker 2: you knew him, said Floppier to the merry Monkey. How
• 2:12:45
  Speaker 2: did that happen? It was this way, explained Mapo. I
• 2:12:49
  Speaker 2: had not lived in the jungle very long, but I
• 2:12:51
  Speaker 2: was caught by some men who want monkeys to go
• 2:12:53
  Speaker 2: round with the hand organ players. I was put on
• 2:12:55
  Speaker 2: a ship and brought to this country. There, tum Tum
• 2:12:58
  Speaker 2: and I became good friends. He was also caught in
• 2:13:00
  Speaker 2: the jungle and brought over on the ship. Then he
• 2:13:02
  Speaker 2: went with a circus. I was there too for a while,
• 2:13:05
  Speaker 2: but I ran away and met Squinty, the comical pig.
• 2:13:08
  Speaker 2: Why I know him too, cried flop Ere, you know
• 2:13:12
  Speaker 2: many of my friends, the merry monkey said, I'm glad
• 2:13:16
  Speaker 2: to hear that. Well. After a while, I was taken
• 2:13:18
  Speaker 2: in by a nice family, and I have lived there
• 2:13:20
  Speaker 2: ever since until yesterday, when I ran away again. Why,
• 2:13:24
  Speaker 2: asked Flopier, Oh, I wanted to have some adventures. I
• 2:13:27
  Speaker 2: grew tired of staying in one place so long, so
• 2:13:30
  Speaker 2: I ran away to the woods, which are a little
• 2:13:31
  Speaker 2: bit like those of the jungle, where I used to
• 2:13:33
  Speaker 2: climb from tree to tree. After a while, I shall
• 2:13:35
  Speaker 2: run back to the nice people with whom I lived for.
• 2:13:38
  Speaker 2: I like them very much. I liked the boy from
• 2:13:40
  Speaker 2: whom I ran away, said flop Here. Still, we animals
• 2:13:44
  Speaker 2: were made to roam through the woods and over the fields.
• 2:13:47
  Speaker 2: It's no fun to be shut up in the cage.
• 2:13:49
  Speaker 2: That's right, chattered Mapo, winding his long tail around his
• 2:13:54
  Speaker 2: neck as he might put a scarf about yours. Still
• 2:13:57
  Speaker 2: come tum the elephant and died over the dancing bear.
• 2:14:00
  Speaker 2: They not seem to mind being in the circus. I
• 2:14:02
  Speaker 2: guess that's different, said Flopier. Perhaps it is, said Mapo.
• 2:14:07
  Speaker 2: Floppier told his adventures to the merry monkey, how the
• 2:14:10
  Speaker 2: bunny had been driven away from his burrow home, how
• 2:14:13
  Speaker 2: he had gone into the wood basket, had been found
• 2:14:15
  Speaker 2: by the boy, and all that followed. Ma, you certainly
• 2:14:19
  Speaker 2: had quite a time, said Mapo. Now what do you
• 2:14:22
  Speaker 2: say to this? You and I will lift together in
• 2:14:23
  Speaker 2: these woods for a while. I like it here, and
• 2:14:25
  Speaker 2: so do you. We will make ourselves a little house
• 2:14:27
  Speaker 2: of green branches and stay in it until I want
• 2:14:30
  Speaker 2: to run back home again. But what about my home?
• 2:14:33
  Speaker 2: Asked Flopier, I ought to be looking for it. That's
• 2:14:36
  Speaker 2: why I ran away from Jimmy, the boy who taught
• 2:14:38
  Speaker 2: me to do tricks. Mapo thought, for a second or two,
• 2:14:41
  Speaker 2: I'll tell you what we can do, he said. We'll
• 2:14:44
  Speaker 2: stay here a while and have a good time, and
• 2:14:46
  Speaker 2: then I'll come with you and help you look for
• 2:14:47
  Speaker 2: your home. After that i'll go back to mine. That
• 2:14:50
  Speaker 2: will be fine, said Flopier. You are very kind to me. Oh,
• 2:14:54
  Speaker 2: I like being kind, said Mapo. I learned it off
• 2:14:57
  Speaker 2: at Tumtum the Jolly Elephant. Floppyer thought Mapo a very
• 2:15:01
  Speaker 2: funny and merry monkey. Mapo could do more things than
• 2:15:05
  Speaker 2: could flop heer, for the monkey really had four hands,
• 2:15:09
  Speaker 2: though as he walked on his hind ones, I suppose
• 2:15:11
  Speaker 2: they ought to be called feet. And Mapo's tail was
• 2:15:14
  Speaker 2: almost as good as another hand to him, for the
• 2:15:17
  Speaker 2: merry monkey could hold himself up in a tree by it,
• 2:15:20
  Speaker 2: and could swing to and fro like the pendulum of
• 2:15:22
  Speaker 2: a clock. If you want to read more about the monkey,
• 2:15:26
  Speaker 2: you may do it in the book called Mapo the
• 2:15:28
  Speaker 2: Merry Monkey his Merry Adventures. In that I have told
• 2:15:32
  Speaker 2: many things about the jolly four handed chap. Well, if
• 2:15:36
  Speaker 2: we are going to live together in the woods, said
• 2:15:38
  Speaker 2: Mapo to Flopier, we had better stop making our house.
• 2:15:42
  Speaker 2: I will cut down the branches of trees with my
• 2:15:44
  Speaker 2: sharp gnawing teeth, said Flopier. And I will make them
• 2:15:48
  Speaker 2: into a house, said the monkey. And since you like
• 2:15:51
  Speaker 2: to live part of the time down underground, you may
• 2:15:54
  Speaker 2: dick for yourself a hole in the middle of the house.
• 2:15:56
  Speaker 2: We will call that a cellar. That will be fine,
• 2:15:59
  Speaker 2: cried Flopier. So the two animal friends started to work together.
• 2:16:05
  Speaker 2: By standing up on his hind legs, Flopier could reach
• 2:16:09
  Speaker 2: the low branches of some evergreen trees. These he gnawed
• 2:16:13
  Speaker 2: off almost as nicely as if they had been cut
• 2:16:16
  Speaker 2: with a knife. And as fast as the tree branches
• 2:16:19
  Speaker 2: were cut off, Mapo, with his paws, which were like hands,
• 2:16:24
  Speaker 2: struck them in the ground, making a sort of green tent.
• 2:16:28
  Speaker 2: Then inside the tent, Flopier dug for himself a hole
• 2:16:32
  Speaker 2: underground for rabbits like to stay beneath the top of
• 2:16:36
  Speaker 2: the earth part of the time. When the house and
• 2:16:39
  Speaker 2: the cellar hole were finished, Mapo said, now we are
• 2:16:43
  Speaker 2: all right, except that we need something to eat. That
• 2:16:47
  Speaker 2: will be no trouble for me, said Flopier. I could
• 2:16:50
  Speaker 2: eat the bark off the trees and sweet roots, and
• 2:16:54
  Speaker 2: perhaps there may grow not far from here, some cabbages
• 2:16:57
  Speaker 2: or carrots. I could eat carrots or cabbages, said Mapo,
• 2:17:01
  Speaker 2: but I would not care for bark from trees. Still
• 2:17:04
  Speaker 2: I might find some fruit, though in this country there
• 2:17:06
  Speaker 2: were no banana or coconut trees such as I love
• 2:17:09
  Speaker 2: and which grow in my country. Did you have to
• 2:17:11
  Speaker 2: climb a coconut tree and pick the nuts, he asked Floppier.
• 2:17:15
  Speaker 2: I never did, replied the white bunny. A rabbit would
• 2:17:19
  Speaker 2: look funny a thing climbing a tree, perhaps, so, agreed Mapo.
• 2:17:23
  Speaker 2: But if you will excuse me saying so, you are
• 2:17:25
  Speaker 2: quite a funny rabbit as it is. Huh so I've
• 2:17:28
  Speaker 2: been told, laughed Flopier. I don't mind a bit being
• 2:17:33
  Speaker 2: called that. But suppose we go to look for something
• 2:17:35
  Speaker 2: to eat. It will soon be dark, and though I
• 2:17:37
  Speaker 2: can see in the night pretty well, I don't suppose
• 2:17:40
  Speaker 2: you can not carry you well, said Mapo. So, after
• 2:17:45
  Speaker 2: they had finished making their little house, the monkey and
• 2:17:48
  Speaker 2: the rabbit set off together. Floppier found a field where
• 2:17:51
  Speaker 2: turnips grew and Mapo found an orchard where some pears
• 2:17:56
  Speaker 2: and peaches were growing on trees. This fruit will be
• 2:17:59
  Speaker 2: just fine for me, Mapo said, maybe you would like
• 2:18:02
  Speaker 2: some of these, Flopier, and he pointed to the trees
• 2:18:05
  Speaker 2: which grew in the orchard not far from the carrot field. Yes,
• 2:18:10
  Speaker 2: I think I should like them, the rabbit answered, But
• 2:18:13
  Speaker 2: I cannot climb a tree to get them. Oh, I'm
• 2:18:15
  Speaker 2: just great at climbing trees, said the monkey. You just
• 2:18:18
  Speaker 2: watch me with that mary, Mapo sprang over the fence
• 2:18:22
  Speaker 2: and before Floppier could count up to ten, supposing that
• 2:18:26
  Speaker 2: he knew how the monkey had picked some peaches and
• 2:18:29
  Speaker 2: pears and had scrambled back to the ground again. Here
• 2:18:33
  Speaker 2: eats em, he said to Flopier and the rabbit did
• 2:18:37
  Speaker 2: Are they good? Asked Mapo. Oh fine, cried Flopier. Then
• 2:18:43
  Speaker 2: the bunny eat some carrots, and as he had paws
• 2:18:46
  Speaker 2: in which he could carry them, Mapo took home to
• 2:18:48
  Speaker 2: the leafy house some fruit and some of the yellow carrots.
• 2:18:53
  Speaker 2: Then we won't have to come back for more right away,
• 2:18:55
  Speaker 2: he said, I guess the man who owns a won't
• 2:18:57
  Speaker 2: mind if we take a few. It was very for
• 2:19:00
  Speaker 2: flop Ear and Mapo living in the leafy house together.
• 2:19:03
  Speaker 2: Even when it rained, they did not get very wet,
• 2:19:06
  Speaker 2: for the rabbit could go down the cellar, and Mapo
• 2:19:09
  Speaker 2: made the roof thick with more branches so the rain
• 2:19:12
  Speaker 2: drops could not drip through on him. Still, every now
• 2:19:16
  Speaker 2: and then flop Ear would think of his own burrow,
• 2:19:19
  Speaker 2: where he had been so happy with his father and
• 2:19:21
  Speaker 2: mother and with pink nose and snuggle before the hunter
• 2:19:25
  Speaker 2: drove him away. When are we going to look for
• 2:19:27
  Speaker 2: my house? The rabbit would ask the monkey, Oh, pretty
• 2:19:31
  Speaker 2: soon now. Mapo would answer, I don't want to go
• 2:19:34
  Speaker 2: home quite yet. I like it here in the woods,
• 2:19:37
  Speaker 2: so do I, flop Ear would say, But still I
• 2:19:41
  Speaker 2: want to go to my own home. And one day
• 2:19:44
  Speaker 2: the two started off to look for Flopier's home. Every
• 2:19:48
  Speaker 2: time they came to a hole in the ground, Mapo
• 2:19:50
  Speaker 2: would ask, is this it fop beer? But the rabbit
• 2:19:53
  Speaker 2: would look and then he would say, no, I am sorry,
• 2:19:57
  Speaker 2: but that is not it. Then we must go on
• 2:19:59
  Speaker 2: some more, said Mapo, and on they would go. One day,
• 2:20:04
  Speaker 2: just as it was getting a little dark toward evening, Flopier,
• 2:20:08
  Speaker 2: who was hopping along through the woods with Mapo heard
• 2:20:11
  Speaker 2: a thumping noise. It was a noise such as rabbits
• 2:20:15
  Speaker 2: make when they called to one another, and Floppier knew
• 2:20:19
  Speaker 2: at once that some other rabbit was making signals. I'll
• 2:20:23
  Speaker 2: go and see who that is thumping, said Flopier. Maybe
• 2:20:25
  Speaker 2: it's a rabbit who knows where my home is. He
• 2:20:28
  Speaker 2: ran along a little father, and there behind a bush
• 2:20:32
  Speaker 2: he saw an old lady rabbit. Excuse me, Flopier said
• 2:20:37
  Speaker 2: to her, what are you thumping for any one? The
• 2:20:40
  Speaker 2: old lady rabbit turned round, and who do you suppose
• 2:20:44
  Speaker 2: she was? Yes, she was Lady Munch, Flopier's grandmother. Oh, grandma, grandma,
• 2:20:53
  Speaker 2: he cried, I found you at last. Where is my home?
• 2:20:57
  Speaker 2: And where are all the others?
• 2:20:59
  Speaker 3: Ah?
• 2:21:00
  Speaker 2: Oh, Flopier Flopier cried, Lady Munch, you've come home at last. Oh,
• 2:21:08
  Speaker 2: he thought you were gone forever. Here mister bunny, missus,
• 2:21:12
  Speaker 2: bunny snuggle, and pink nose, come here, Floppier is back.
• 2:21:16
  Speaker 2: Out of a hole. Nearby in the ground came running
• 2:21:20
  Speaker 2: the other rabbits. There. They were all of Floppier's family.
• 2:21:24
  Speaker 2: They ran up to him, hugging and kissing him the
• 2:21:27
  Speaker 2: way rabbits do. Oh, how glad they were to see him.
• 2:21:31
  Speaker 2: Where have you been, Flopier, Where have you been, they
• 2:21:34
  Speaker 2: asked him?
• 2:21:35
  Speaker 3: Oh?
• 2:21:36
  Speaker 2: Everywhere, he answered, And I have had so many adventures.
• 2:21:41
  Speaker 2: But how is it you are living in this new home.
• 2:21:44
  Speaker 2: This is not where we used to live. We came
• 2:21:47
  Speaker 2: here after the hunter chased us, said the Papa Rabbit,
• 2:21:51
  Speaker 2: and we have been living here ever since. You looked
• 2:21:54
  Speaker 2: everywhere for you, but we could not find you. And
• 2:21:56
  Speaker 2: I was out in front of the new burrow just now,
• 2:21:59
  Speaker 2: thumping with my feet and hoping some rabbits might hear
• 2:22:02
  Speaker 2: it so I could ask them about you, said lady
• 2:22:05
  Speaker 2: Munch and lo and behold along you come yourself Flopier, Yes,
• 2:22:12
  Speaker 2: said Flopier, and I'm mighty glad I did. But who
• 2:22:15
  Speaker 2: is your friend, asked Mamma Bunny, looking at Mapo. Oh
• 2:22:20
  Speaker 2: he is a merry monkey who is very kind to me,
• 2:22:23
  Speaker 2: said Flopier. He and I have been living in the
• 2:22:26
  Speaker 2: woods and we have had good times together. His name
• 2:22:29
  Speaker 2: is Mapo, and he knows Tom Tum, the jolly elephant
• 2:22:32
  Speaker 2: in the circus. What's a circus, asked Pink Nose, And
• 2:22:36
  Speaker 2: what's an elephant? Snuggle demanded I'll tell you all about it,
• 2:22:41
  Speaker 2: said Flopier, And he did. All the adventures that had
• 2:22:45
  Speaker 2: happened to him since he had run away, did Floppier
• 2:22:48
  Speaker 2: tell to his brother and sister. Papa and Mamma Bunny
• 2:22:52
  Speaker 2: listened also, as did Lady Munch. But oh, how glad
• 2:22:56
  Speaker 2: I am to be at home again, said Flopier. And
• 2:22:59
  Speaker 2: I hope no more hunters will come along. He hope
• 2:23:02
  Speaker 2: so too, said his father. Floppier was taken down into
• 2:23:07
  Speaker 2: the new burrow and given something to eat. He liked
• 2:23:10
  Speaker 2: the new home very much. Mapo the Monkey was too
• 2:23:14
  Speaker 2: large to go down into the underground house, but he
• 2:23:17
  Speaker 2: found a place in the trees where he could stay
• 2:23:19
  Speaker 2: all night, and the rabbits gave him some supper. The
• 2:23:23
  Speaker 2: next morning, Mapo said goodbye to Flopier and to the
• 2:23:27
  Speaker 2: other bunnies. I'm going back to the house where I live,
• 2:23:30
  Speaker 2: said Mapo. I have had enough of running away, and
• 2:23:33
  Speaker 2: so have I cried Flopier. After this, I'm going to
• 2:23:37
  Speaker 2: stay at home. And he did, And though he had
• 2:23:42
  Speaker 2: more adventures, they were little ones in the woods around
• 2:23:46
  Speaker 2: the new burrough, and Pink Nose and Snuggle were never
• 2:23:49
  Speaker 2: tired of hearing Flip flop tell all of the wonderful
• 2:23:53
  Speaker 2: things that had happened to him, just as I have
• 2:23:56
  Speaker 2: told you here. And now, since Flopier is safe at
• 2:24:00
  Speaker 2: home again, we will say good bye to him. The
• 2:24:04
  Speaker 2: end end of chapter twelve, end of flop Ear The
• 2:24:10
  Speaker 2: Funny Rabbit by Richard Barnum