ONCE there was a woman who had a garden full of nice cabbages, but about the time they were half-grown a rabbit began to come to the garden every day to eat them. He ate and ate until the woman was afraid none would be left for her unless she put a stop to his eating. So at last she said to her daughter, "Go into the garden and drive out that rabbit!"

The maiden went to the garden, and when she saw the rabbit she said, "Shoo! shoo! don't eat up all our cabbages, little rabbit!"

"Come, maiden," said the rabbit, "sit on my tail and go with me to my home."

But the maiden would not, and the rabbit ran off alone. The next day, however, he came again, and ate at the cabbages as fast as ever. Then the woman said to her daughter, "Go into the garden and drive away that rabbit!"

The maiden hastened into the garden and shouted, "Shoo! shoo! don't eat up all our cabbages, little rabbit!"

But the maiden would not, and the rabbit ran off alone. He was back for a third time the next day eating as usual. The woman looked out and spied him presently and said to her daughter, "Go into the garden and drive away that rabbit!"

The maiden hurried to the garden and cried, "Shoo! shoo! don't eat up all our cabbages, little rabbit!" "Very well," said the rabbit, "I will let the cabbages alone if you will sit on my tail and go with me to my home."

"Come, maiden," said the rabbit, "sit on my tail and go with me to my home."

So the girl seated herself on the rabbit's tail, and the rabbit took her to his home. "Now," said he, when they were inside of the hut where he lived, "you can cook some beans and cabbage. That will make a fine wedding feast. You shall be my wife, and we will be married as soon as I can invite the guests and get the parson here."

Off ran the rabbit, and he invited all the other rabbits and a number of squirrels and several foxes, and he also arranged to have a crow who was a parson come and do the marrying.

But the maiden did not want to be a rabbit's bride, and while the rabbit was gone, she made a figure of straw and put her apron and her bonnet on it. Lastly, she propped it up on a stool by the fireside to watch the kettle of beans and cabbage. Then she hurried to her own home as fast as she could go.

By and by the rabbit returned to his hut, and he saw the maiden, as he supposed, sitting by the fire. "Get up! get up "he said, "the wedding folks are coming, and we must have the feast ready on the table for them!"

He looked out of the window a few moments. "Yes, yes!" he cried, "I see them. They will soon be here."

Then he turned toward the maiden and observed, to his surprise, that she had not stirred. "Get up! get up!" he shouted. "The guests are at the door."

The maiden, however, said nothing and remained seated. This made the rabbit very angry, and he went close to her and yelled, "Get up, I say! Don't you hear me?"

 

The guests were already crowding in at the door, and the rabbit raised his paw and boxed the maiden's ears. To his dismay the head of the straw figure tumbled off and he thought he had killed his intended bride. He was frightened, and so were all the guests he had invited. They scrambled out of the hut and the guests got away to their homes at their top speed. As for the rabbit, he was too scared to return to his cabin. So he fixed up a new abode in another part of the woodland, and he did not eat any more cabbages in the woman's garden.