CHAPTER IV

Next day, Bunny went over to Susan’s house and found Susan’s mother crying, and what do you suppose had happened? Why, Susan Cotton-Tail had not come home, and her mother was afraid she might be lost.

 

When Bunny heard the news, he cried into a little red handkerchief that he had wrapped around his sore paw, and he said he wished to die if Susan Cotton-Tail could not be found!

 

Now Bunny knew that old Farmer Jones hated the sight of even his little stubby tail, so he thought[24] the quickest way for him to die would be to run over into the farmer’s garden.

 

He told Susan’s mother good-by, waved his sore paw feebly¹, and set out for the garden. He thought that if he must die he would eat some cabbage first, and he was nibbling² away when he heard some one whisper his name very softly.

 

At first he thought it was Marie, Farmer Jones’s little girl, so he curled right up close beside a cabbage, and did not say a word. He peeped around the cabbage, and he could see Farmer Jones’s blue shirt, and once in a while he could hear him whistle.

 

Then he heard a soft little voice[25] say: “Bunny, Bunny, Bunny.” He looked over by the raspberry bushes, and what do you suppose he saw? There was Susan Cotton-Tail, caught in a trap!

 

When Bunny saw Susan he forgot all about Farmer Jones, and he gave a loud squeal³, just the same kind of a squeal he gave when he burned his paw. Farmer Jones came running, and cried: “Ah, ha! I have caught the rabbit at last!”

 

Bunny had just time to jump into a flower pot, and Farmer Jones found poor Susan in the trap.

 

“Now,” said Farmer Jones, “I have caught the naughty rabbit that eats my cabbages, and I have a great mind to kill it!”

 

[26]But he did not kill Susan—oh, my, no—for she just blinked⁴ her eyes and smiled at him. She was not the least bit afraid; and why should she have been, when she had never stolen anything from Farmer Jones in her life?

 

Just then Marie came running out into the garden, and Farmer Jones said:

 

“See, Marie, I have caught the naughty rabbit that has been eating my cabbages, and she looks as though she had never done anything wrong in her life.”

 

“Oh, the sweet little thing!” cried Marie. “Let me have her for a pet, and I will put a pretty blue ribbon around her neck.”

 

[27]So Marie took Susan up in her little apron⁵ and carried her, very gently and carefully, into the house. She made room for the little rabbit in her doll’s bed, and there Susan fell asleep.

1 feebly   

adv. 贫乏地, 虚弱地

参考例句：

• The bird is beating feebly. 那只鸟的翅膀在无力地扑扇着。
• A wick was sputtering feebly in a dish of oil. 瓦油灯上结了一个大灯花，使微弱的灯光变得更加阴暗。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

2 nibbling   

v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的现在分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬

参考例句：

• We sat drinking wine and nibbling olives. 我们坐在那儿，喝着葡萄酒嚼着橄榄。
• He was nibbling on the apple. 他在啃苹果。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 squeal   

v.发出长而尖的声音；n.长而尖的声音

参考例句：

• The children gave a squeal of fright.孩子们发出惊吓的尖叫声。
• There was a squeal of brakes as the car suddenly stopped.小汽车突然停下来时，车闸发出尖叫声。

4 blinked   

眨眼睛( blink的过去式 )； 闪亮，闪烁

参考例句：

• He blinked in the bright sunlight. 他在强烈的阳光下直眨眼睛。
• The boy blinked up at me in some surprise. 那男孩有些吃惊地眨着眼看我。

5 apron   

n.围裙；工作裙

参考例句：

• We were waited on by a pretty girl in a pink apron.招待我们的是一位穿粉红色围裙的漂亮姑娘。
• She stitched a pocket on the new apron.她在新围裙上缝上一只口袋。