The Story of a Candy Rabbit | Page 3

here,"
said the Candy Rabbit, speaking half aloud. "But how did I get here,
and where are the Calico Clown and the Monkey on a Stick?"
"Oh, they are not so far away," answered the Fuzzy Rabbit. "And you
are not really in Fairyland, though this does seem like it, I suppose,"
and his eyes roved over the gay and pretty scene.
"Then where am I?" asked the Candy Rabbit again. "If this isn't
Fairyland, where am I?"
The Chocolate Rabbit grinned.
"You are on the Easter Novelty Counter," was the Fuzzy Rabbit's
answer.
"Where in the world is that?" asked the Candy Rabbit. "Is it anywhere
near the North Pole Workshop of Santa Claus?"
The Chocolate Rabbit gave a loud laugh.
"He doesn't even know his own store," said this dark-complexioned
chap. "Why, my dear fellow," he went on, "the Easter Novelty Counter
is just around the corner from the toy section, where you have lived so
long. The Calico Clown, the Monkey on a Stick and the other friends
you speak of are there. You are not very far away from them."
"That's good," said the Candy Rabbit. "But why am I on the Easter
Novelty Counter, and how did I get here?"

"You were put here because this is Easter time," answered the
Chocolate Rabbit.
"But I don't remember coming here," said the Candy Rabbit.
"No," said the Fuzzy Rabbit with the clock-work inside him, which
made him turn about and bow, "I dare say not. You were asleep when
one of the girl clerks from your counter brought you over here. But we
are glad to have you among us."
Just then it began to get light, for all this talk had taken place in the
night, when only a dim light burned in the toy store. And with the
coming of morning the clerks arrived, and also the customers to buy
Easter novelties and other things.
The Fuzzy Rabbit stopped waving his ears and became quiet. The
Candy Rabbit no longer talked to the Chocolate Bunny. A girl clerk led
a lady, in a warm fur coat, over toward the counter.
"Here are some fine Easter presents," said the girl. "We have rabbits of
all kinds."
"I want a large one for a little girl," said the lady. "I promised to send
Madeline a nice Bunny." And then the Candy Rabbit felt himself being
picked up and looked at.
"Oh, I wonder what is going to happen?" he thought.
The lady in the fur cloak turned the Candy Rabbit around and around,
and even upside down, looking carefully at him.
CHAPTER II
THE RABBIT'S NEW HOME
"Goodness me!" said the sweet chap to himself, as the lady swung him
to one side so she might look at his eyes better. "This is worse than
being on a merry-go-round! I am feeling quite dizzy! I hope I am not

going to be seasick, as the Lamb on Wheels thought she was going to
be when the sailor bought her."
But the Candy Rabbit was not made ill. The lady stopped turning him
around and around and said to the girl clerk:
"This Rabbit seems to be just what I want for an Easter present. I'll take
him."
"Shall I send it or will you take it with you?" asked the clerk.
"Ill take it," the lady answered. "A Candy Rabbit is not very hard to
carry."
She handed him back to the clerk, but something happened. Whether
the clerk did not take a good hold of the Candy Rabbit, or whether the
lady let go of him too soon, I don't know. But, all of a sudden, the
Candy Rabbit slipped from the lady's hand and began falling. Straight
toward the floor he fell!
"Oh!" he thought, "if I fall to the hard floor I shall certainly be smashed,
and then I shall be of no use as an Easter present. All I'll be good for
will be to be eaten, like any other piece of candy! Oh, dear, this is
dreadful!"
Faster and faster, nearer and nearer to the floor fell the Candy Rabbit,
and, while the customer and the clerk looked, it seemed certain that he
must be broken all to bits.
But listen!
The toy counter was not far away from the one where the Candy Rabbit
and other Easter novelties were displayed. And on the counter were the
Calico Clown and the Monkey on a Stick, besides a Jumping Jack.
Now whether one of these toys pushed it off the counter I cannot say;
all I know is that a big, soft, rubber ball suddenly fell to the floor from
the toy counter, rolled along and came to a stop just at the very place

where the Candy Rabbit was falling.
And what did the