Tales of Old Lusitania/The White Rabbit
THE WHITE RABBIT.
Here's the white rabbit
That went to the garden
To look for a cabbage
To make herself soup.
When the white rabbit got back from the garden, she found her door locked on the inside. She knocked and thumped against it, till someone cried from within: "Who is there?"
And the rabbit, in great surprise, replied:
I'm the white rabbit
Come home from the garden
Where I pulled up a cabbage
To make me some soup.
Then she heard a great gruff voice from within, which said to her:
I'm the huge jolly goat;
With a spring and a bound
I can cut you in three,
And eat you up in no time.
The poor little white rabbit went away in great haste and fear, and very sad; and presently she met a big bull, and said to him: "Big bull, be my friend.
I'm the white rabbit
That went to the garden
And brought home a cabbage
To make me some soup;
When I got there I found
The huge jolly goat;
With a spring and a bound
He will cut me in three,
And eat me up in no time.
To this the great bull replied: "I won't go there, and I can't help you, for I am very much afraid of the huge jolly goat."
The rabbit went on further, and she met a powerful dog, and she cried in a piteous voice: "Dear dog, do help me.
I'm the white rabbit
That went to the garden
And brought home a cabbage
To make me some soup;
When there I reached,
I met the huge jolly goat,
That with a spring and a bound
Will cut me in three,
And eat me up in no time.
The dog replied very civilly: "Oh! I can't go there. I am so afraid!"
She then set off again until she saw a fine cock strutting about, to whom she applied for help in her distress.
I'm the white rabbit
That went to the garden
And was coming home
To make some soup;
When there I reached
I met the huge jolly goat,
That with a spring and a bound
Will cut me in three,
And eat me up in no time.
"Oh! I won't go there, for I am frightened of the beast!"
The poor little rabbit, in despair of getting any one to go with her and get rid of the goat that had taken possession of her little house, went away very sad indeed, believing she could never get back to her home, when suddenly she came across a busy little ant, who asked her very kindly: "What ails you, little rabbit, that you look so sad?"
I was coming from the garden,
Where I went for a cabbage
To make some soup;
When there I reached
I met the huge jolly goat,
That with a spring and a bound
Will cut me in three,
And eat me up in no time.
When the good little ant heard her sad tale, she said: "I'll go with you and see what we can do in the matter."
They both went together and knocked at the house door; the great goat said from within:
Here no one can enter,
For here is the great he-goat,
That with a spring and a bound
Will fall upon you both
And cut you in three,
And eat you up in no time!
The little ant replied:
I'm the great big ant,
That can make a hole
In your belly so big
And take out your inside.
When the little ant had said these terrible words she quietly crept in through the key hole, killed the great goat with her sting; made a hole for the rabbit, who cut up the large cabbage and put it to boil, and made some soup.
The two friends lived together very happily ever after—the white rabbit and the great big ant.
