“I reckon that’s so about the Monkeys,” remarked Mrs. Meadows. “They used to be in the country next door, and now they are no longer there.”

“Yes,” said Mr. Rabbit; “it’s just like I tell you: they were there once, but now they are not there any more. But in the world next door everybody has his ups and downs, especially his downs. I’ve heard my great-grandfather tell many a time how our family used to live close to the Moon. So I don’t make any brags about the way the Monkeys had to take to the bushes. I remember about my own family, and then I feel like hanging my head down and saying nothing. It is a very funny feeling, too. When I think we used to live close to the Moon, and that we now live on the ground and have to crawl there like snails, I sometimes feel like crying; and I tell you right now if I was to begin to boo-hoo, you’d be astonished.”

Buster John and Sweetest Susan looked very serious, but Drusilla showed a desire to laugh.

“You say you used to live close to the Moon?” asked Buster John, with more curiosity than usual.

“Why, certainly,” replied Mr. Rabbit. “I don’t say that I did, but I’m certain that my family did. I’ve heard my great-grandfather tell about it a hundred times. I’ve heard that it was a better country up there than it is where you live, even better than it is down here,—a good deal more fun and fiddling, and not half so much looking around for something to eat. That is the great trouble. If we didn’t have to scuffle around and get something to eat, we’d be lots better off.

“It’s mighty funny. If you let well enough alone, you are all right; but the minute you try to better it, everything goes wrong.”

“Dat wuz de way wid ol’ man Adam,” remarked Drusilla.

“Why, of course,” said Mr. Rabbit, “and it was the way with all the Rabbits and everybody and everything else.”

“But how did they live up there by the Moon?” asked Sweetest Susan. “How did they keep from falling off?”

Mr. Rabbit scratched his head a little before replying. “Well,” said he, after awhile, “they got along just as we do down here,—heads up and feet down. But one time, as I’ve heard my great-grandfather say, the Moon got into a sort of fidget, and was mighty restless for quite a while. At last, one of our family, the oldest of all, made bold to look over the fence and ask the Moon what the trouble was. He noticed, too, that the Moon had shrunk considerably, and seemed to be in a very bad way. It could hardly hold up its head.

“But the Moon managed to look up when it heard the fuss at the fence, and, in a very shaky voice, told the oldest of all the Rabbits howdy.

“‘What is the trouble?’ says the oldest Rabbit. Says he, ‘Can I do anything to help you?’

“‘I’m afraid not,’ says the Moon. ‘You are not nimble enough.’

“‘Maybe I’m nimbler than you think,’ says the oldest Rabbit.

“‘Well,’ says the Moon, ‘I’ll tell you what the trouble is. I want to get a message to Mr. Man, who lives in the world down yonder. I’ve been shining on him at night, and I’ve caught a bad cold by being out after dark. My health is breaking down, and if I don’t put out my lights for a while and take a rest, I’ll have to go out altogether. Now, it’s like this: I’ve been shining for Mr. Man so long that if I don’t send him some word he’ll think something serious has happened. I must take a rest, but I want to send him a message, telling him that I won’t be gone long.’

“‘Well,’ says the oldest Rabbit, ‘I don’t mind going, if you’ll show me the way and tell me what to say.’

“So the Moon pointed out the way, and showed him how to put his fingers in his ears and hold his breath when he took the long jump. Then it gave him this message:—

“The oldest Rabbit said this message over to himself many times, and then he got ready for the journey. Everything went well until he came to the long jump. But he braced himself, and shut his eyes, and put his fingers in his ears, and held his breath. Now, the jump was a long one, sure enough. It was so long that the oldest Rabbit opened one eye, and then he got the notion that he was falling instead of jumping, and he opened both eyes so wide that they have been that way ever since. This scared him terribly, and by the time he landed on the world he had forgotten what he came for. He wasn’t hurt a bit, but he was badly scared.

“He sat on the ground and tried to remember, and then he got up and walked about. Finally, he looked up and saw the Moon winking one eye at him. Then he thought about the message, and he ran off to Mr. Man’s house, and knocked at the door. Mr. Man had gone to bed, but he got up and opened the door, and asked what was wanted.

“‘Well,’ says the oldest Rabbit, ‘I’ve just come from the Moon with a message for you.’

“‘What is it?’ says Mr. Man.

“‘The Moon told me to tell you this:—

“Mr. Man scratched his head. He couldn’t make the message out. Then he said, ‘Take this message back:—

“The oldest Rabbit bowed politely and started back home. He came to the Jumping-Off Place, and then he took the long jump. He was soon at home, and went at once to the Moon’s house, and gave the message that Mr. Man had sent. This made the Moon very mad. It declared that the oldest Rabbit had carried the wrong message. Then it grabbed the shovel and struck him in the face. This made the oldest Rabbit very mad, and he jumped at the Moon and used his claws. The fight was a hard one, and you can see the marks of it to this day. All the Rabbits have their upper lips split, and the Moon still has the marks on its face where the oldest Rabbit clawed it.

“The way of it was this,” continued Mr. Rabbit, seeing that the children had hardly caught the drift of the story: “the Moon had been shining constantly for many years, and was growing weak. It wanted to take a rest, and it was afraid Mr. Man would get scared when he failed to see it at night. Since that time the Moon has been taking a rest about every two weeks. At least it used to be that way. I never bother about it now.”