Snubby Nose and Tippy Toes | Page 4

and he set the table for breakfast.
He said, "If you are home by dinner time Papa Cotton-Tail, may I go and visit Bunny and Susan?"
Papa Cotton-Tail said, "If I get home in time with Susan's spectacles you may go to-day."
Papa Cotton-Tail put on his big fur coat and went merrily down the road. Mother Cotton-Tail began to make cookies and Tippy Toes rolled them out for her. Now, will you believe it? before they had a single pan of cookies baked, Papa Cotton-Tail was back home again.
Mother Cotton-Tail said, "Why are you back so soon?"
Tippy Toes said, "Did you get the spectacles already?"
Papa Cotton-Tail said, "I met a peddler and he had a pair of black spectacles in his pack."
Papa Cotton-Tail put on the black spectacles and he looked so funny that Mother Cotton-Tail said, "Let me try them on," and Tippy Toes cried, "Please let me try them on!"
Mother Cotton-Tail said, "I will pack Bunny's lamp and Susan's spectacles and you may start on your long journey at once."
Tippy Toes put on his best coat and cap and kissed his mother good-bye. Papa Cotton-Tail went with him again to the bend of the road. Suddenly Tippy Toes stopped still. He stopped stock-still in the road. He said, "Oh, Pa, I must go back, I forgot something!"
What do you suppose Tippy Toes forgot?
He always danced up and down before the mirror before he went out. So, he went back home, hoppity, skippity, hop; and Papa Cotton-Tail waited for him at the bend of the road.
Tippy Toes stood before the mirror and he danced this way and he danced that way and said,
"Who is so ugly? Nobody knows." The mirror answered, "Snubby Nose."
Then Tippy Toes laughed and laughed.
"I will go and find Snubby Nose," he said, "for he must be as ugly as I am with my little turned-up nose."
He went running down the road and was soon off and away. The wind whistled in his ears.
At that very minute he heard Papa Cotton-Tail crying, "Hello, hello! Come back to the bend in the road, Tippy Toes."
Tippy Toes said to himself, "What can Papa Cotton-Tail want? Shall I never get started?"
Papa Cotton-Tail said, "How will you know the house when you come to it?"
Tippy Toes said, "I will ask any one I meet."
Papa Cotton-Tail said, "That is right, and be sure to bow when you meet Grandpa Grumbles."
Then they said "Good-bye" again, and Tippy Toes went merrily along. He met Bushy-Tail, the sly old Fox. Bushy-Tail asked, "Where are you going in such a hurry, Snubby Nose?"
Then Tippy Toes danced this way and he danced that way, and he said,
"That is a matter I do not disclose, But, sir, my name is not Snubby Nose."
[Illustration: "'MY NAME IS NOT SNUBBY NOSE'"]
Bushy-Tail was surprised you may be sure. He said, "Well, you and Snubby Nose are as much alike as two peas."
Tippy Toes bowed and said, "Will you please tell me how I may know when I have passed by the house Bunny and Susan Cotton-Tail live in?"
Tippy Toes did not say he was going to stop and see Bunny and Susan.
Bushy-Tail looked cross-eyed. He said, "If you will tell me your name little fellow, I will take you straight to Bunny Cotton-Tail's house in the woods."
I do not know what would have happened next if Grandpa Grumbles and Doctor Cotton-Tail had not come along.
Grandpa Grumbles thought it was Snubby Nose, of course, and he shouted,
"You're a careless Bunny, it is not funny, The Doctor costs us a lot of money."
Then whisk! Before Tippy Toes or Doctor Cotton-Tail could say a word, Grandpa Grumbles opened his green cotton umbrella and set Tippy Toes inside and carried him through the woods. The wind whistled in their ears as they went. Grandpa Grumbles kept saying over and over to himself,
"You were ill, and it is not funny, To call the Doctor and pay out money."
Tippy Toes shouted at last so loud he could be heard,
"Grandpa, I have a funny nose, But my real name is Tippy Toes."
Grandpa Grumbles answered him,
"Snubby Nose, you can't fool me, Though I'm foolish as can be."
Then Tippy Toes stuffed his furry little paw into his mouth to keep from laughing out loud.
"I wonder if Bunny and Susan will think I am Snubby Nose, too," he said. "What fun that will be. I will visit them until Snubby Nose comes home."
By and by they came to Bunny Cotton-Tail's house. Grandpa Grumbles set Tippy Toes down on the doorstep and shouted,
"The house is dark, as you can see, You'll have to come and visit me."
So, they went on through the woods to Grandpa Grumble's house; for, sure enough, Bunny and Susan had gone to bed and turned out all the lights.
When they got to Grandpa Grumble's house a fire was burning