Bunny was a little rabbit, the youngest of a large family. His home was in an old wood, where the trees were very high, and wild-flowers grew in great abundance. His mother had given him to understand that he must not stray away from her, lest he should get lost, and not be able to find her.
But Bunny was self-willed. He thought his mother was over-careful; and so, one day, when nobody was watching him, he slipped away from her, and sat down amid the grass, under a high beech-tree.
He heard his mother calling him, but took no notice of her call. It was a warm summer day, and he fell asleep. Soon he was startled by the loud barking of dogs. He woke up, and, oh, how frightened he was!
Luckily for him, the dogs did not come where he lay crouching; for their masters were shooting birds, not rabbits. Bunny thought the best thing he could do now was to scamper back to his mother, his brothers and sisters as fast as he could.
But it was not quite so easy to find them again. No sooner had he got into the open path than a troop of boys caught sight of him; and at once there was a volley of stones from their hands. By rare good luck he was not hit by the stones.
But he had not gone many paces farther, when a man with a gun shot at him. Happily the man missed his aim, and the shot went into some bushes.
Having escaped this new danger, Bunny leaped swiftly over the high grass, till he came to the fallen trunk of a tree. Here he hoped to find his mother; but, ah! there was no trace of her to be seen. Night came on; and poor Bunny had to lie down all alone and go to sleep.
The next morning it rained heavily; and Bunny crept into the hollow trunk of the tree, where he could keep warm and dry. But before noon the sun came out beautifully; and the little rabbit, being very hungry, ran out.
The first thing he saw was his mother and the rest of the family eating their dinner. Oh, how glad he was! His mother did not scold him, but gave him plenty to eat; and he made up his mind, that he never would run away again from so good a mother.