gone. The second little girl claimed that egg, of course, and
she painted it a bright yellow with buttercup juice. Then the next day
there was another egg, and the next day there was another egg, and the
next day there was another egg, until there was one apiece for every one
of the children, and some over."

[Illustration]

"'And they all painted them. Some painted theirs pink or red with
roseleaves or japonica, some painted them yellow with buttercups, and
some blue or purple with violets, as the first little girl had done.
They had so many at last that it crowded them out of their bed, and they
had to sleep on the floor.

"'And then, one Sunday, and it must have been Easter Sunday, they all
went out walking again, and when they came back every one of those
beautiful colored eggs was gone. The children cried and made a great
fuss, but it was no use. Some of Mr. Man's boys out hunting hen's nests
had found them and taken them all home with them.

"'And of course all those colored eggs set Mr. Man to wondering, and he
came with his boys to the place where they had found them; and when they
looked in out jumped the whole Rabbit family, helter skelter in every
direction."

[Illustration: LEANING OVER TO LIGHT HIS PIPE FROM MR. 'POSSUM'S.]

"'And right then,' said Mr. Rabbit, leaning over to light his pipe from
Mr. 'Possum's, 'right then Mr. Man declared those colored eggs were
rabbit eggs, and he's kept on saying so ever since, though he knows
better, and he knows I don't like it. He takes eggs and colors them
himself now, and makes believe they're mine, and he puts my picture all
over things about Easter time. I suppose he thinks I don't care, but I
do, and I wish that little Miss Rabbit twenty grandmothers back had left
that old hen's egg white as she found it.'

"'It's too bad,' says Mr. Crow. 'It's like that story they tell about
the fox making me drop the cheese.'

"'Or like Mr. Man making believe that the combs he uses are really made
out of my shell,' says Mr. Turtle.

"Mr. 'Coon and Mr. 'Possum shook their heads. They had their troubles,
too."

MR. TURTLE'S THUNDER STORY

THE WAY OF THE FIRST THUNDER AND LIGHTNING

[Illustration: HAD JACK RABBIT AND MR. TURTLE IN FOR SUPPER.]

Once upon a time, said the Story Teller, when the Crow and the 'Coon and
the 'Possum lived together in three big, hollow branches of a big big,
hollow tree in the big, big, Big Deep Woods, and used to meet and have