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Updated: May 12, 2025
Many times they would pass Wa-poose the Rabbit sitting unseen on his form within a few feet of them. Mother Mit-chee the Ruffled Partridge made her nest in plain sight on the ground beside the old trail and they passed by a hundred times and never saw her. And so it was with many others of the wild folk.
"Only he can find the Magic Flower who, between the rising and the setting of the sun, has done five deeds of mercy and kindness toward the wild folk of forest and field. These five deeds you have done." Wa-poose paused. For a moment there was silence. All the wild folk looked steadfastly at the little boy, who in turn gazed at them with wonder-filled eyes. Then he spoke. "Five deeds!
"I don't see how anybody can eat flesh. Clover, or a nice, tender cabbage leaf is a good deal better." A few days after little Luke saw something that gave him a new feeling of respect for Mother Wa-poose. He was going up to make her another visit. As he came near the brush pile, he heard a thump! thump! thump! "That's Mother Wa-poose," said he to himself, "and she's angry about something.
No hawk or owl could swoop through such a tangle of vines and brush, and no fox or dog could creep through the close-set hedge of thorny blackberry bushes without losing a good deal of his hide. Through the thicket Mother Wa-poose cut two or three paths just wide enough for herself, but not big enough for a dog or a fox.
You know we Wa-pooses have three or four families each year." "Would you like to see a rabbit dance?" asked Father Wa-poose one day in September. "Indeed, I should," replied little Luke. "Come out to-night then," said Wa-poose, "and sit down in the shadow of the stone wall in the corner of the clover field. There you will see something you have never seen before." "I'll be there," said the boy.
Pretty soon he heard a queer thump! thump! thump! He looked up and there was old Father Wa-poose close beside him. He had come into the field so quietly that little Luke had not heard a sound. "Hi! hi! there you are, Man-cub," said the old rabbit. "Now you sit very still, and you'll see something worth seeing.
Would you like to see how I can fool him?" "I would indeed," said little Luke, "if you are not afraid. Old Boze is a wise, old hound, and he may catch you." "Oh, I'm not afraid of that," said Mother Wa-poose. "You just sit here where you can see, and I'll go down there and give Old Boze the time of his life. I think he must be trailing me now by the sound.
"It is too bad," said little Luke, "but Uncle Mark says that if some of the rabbits weren't killed off every year, they'd soon eat all the grass from the sheep and cows, and we wouldn't be able to raise any cabbages or turnips at all. Besides, you know, the house people like rabbit's flesh to eat. I used to eat it myself, but I'll never do it any more." "How dreadful!" said Mother Wa-poose.
There in a half circle around him sat a strange company the strangest he had ever seen. There was Mo-neen the Woodchuck, Unk-wunk the Hedgehog, A-pe-ka the Polecat, Wa-poose the Rabbit, A-bal-ka the Chipmunk, Tav-wots the Cottontail, Mic-ka the Coon, and Shin-ga the Gray Squirrel. At one end of the line stood Mit-chee the Partridge, Ko-leen-o the Quail, and O-he-la the Woodcock.
The last thwack took all the fight out of him. He scrambled to his feet and went flying down the hillside at his best speed. "There," said old Mother Wa-poose, "I guess he'll know enough to keep away from here after this." "Why, Mother Wa-poose," said the little boy, "I didn't know that you were such a fighter."
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