re
out for an airing. The Hollow Tree people were along, and Mr. Turtle, as
usual. By and by they came to a log under a big tree and sat down for a
smoke and talk. They talked about the weather at first and other things,
till somebody mentioned Easter. Then they all had something to say about
that.

"'What I object to,' says Mr. Rabbit, when it came his time to talk, 'is
this thing of people always saying that the Easter eggs belong to me.'

"'Oh, but that's just a joke,' says Mr. 'Coon, laughing.

"'I know it's just a joke, of course, but it's a pretty old joke, and
I'm tired of it,' says Jack Rabbit.

"'How did it get started anyway?' asked Mr. 'Possum.

"Then Mr. Rabbit took his pipe out of his mouth and leaned forward a
little, so he could talk better.

"'I tell you how it got started,' he says, 'and after that I don't want
to hear any more of it. This is how it happened:--

"'Once upon a time, as much as twenty grandmothers back, I should think,
there was a very nice family of Rabbits that lived in a grassy place on
a hillside back of a big farmyard. There was quite a hole in the ground
there, and they had a cosy home in it, and a soft bed for their little
folk."

[Illustration: A FEW LESSONS IN RUNNING AND HIDING.]

"'Now, every bright morning, Father and Mother Rabbit used to take the
children out for a walk, and for a few lessons in running and hiding
from Mr. Dog, who bothered about a good deal, and one day as they were
coming home they heard a great cackling, and when they got to their
house there was a nice fresh egg lying right in the children's bed. Some
old hen from the farmyard had slipped in and laid it while they were
gone. A good many hens, especially old hens, like to hide their nests
that way, and this was one of that kind.

"'Well, of course all the young Rabbits claimed it, and Mother Rabbit at
last gave it to the smallest and weakest one of the children, a little
girl, who was always painting things with the juice of flower petals.
And the very first thing that little girl did was to stain that egg all
over with violet juice, not thinking what trouble it was going to cause
our family forever after."

[Illustration: IT WAS A NICE BLUE EGG WHEN SHE GOT THROUGH.]

"'It was a nice blue egg when she got through with it, and the next day,
when they all came back from their walk again there was another white
egg right by it. The old hen had been there again and laid another while
they were