FullReads

“This is stranger and stranger,” he murmured. “I say!” he cried aloud again, “isn’t any one here?”

“Yes, I’m here,” answered a voice which, the Monkey knew at once, came from a toy like himself. “What’s the trouble?” this voice went on. “Why are you making such a fuss? Who are you, anyhow?”

“I’m a Monkey on a Stick,” answered the toy chap in the box. “And who are you? I seem to know your voice. Where are you?”

“Here I am,” came the answer.

The Monkey raised the box cover higher, and then he cried:

“Why, bless my tail! The Candy Rabbit! Well, of all things! Oh, I’m so glad to see you! How are you?” and the Monkey jumped out of his box, and, laying down his stick, ran across the table and shook paws with a beautiful Candy Rabbit, who had a pink nose and pink glass eyes. The Rabbit was on the table, and the Monkey saw that his pasteboard box was there likewise.

“I am quite well, thank you,” answered the Candy Rabbit, as he waved his big ears to and fro. “And I am glad to see you–very glad! I knew there was some kind of toy in that box, but I did not know it was you. I haven’t seen you since we lived in the toy store together, with the Sawdust Doll, the Lamb on Wheels, the Bold Tin Soldier, the Calico Clown and the White Rocking Horse.”

“Yes, and don’t forget the two Jacks,” went on the Monkey on a Stick, “the Jumping Jack and the Jack in the Box. Then there was the Elephant who tried to race on roller skates with the White Rocking Horse.”

“I’m not forgetting them,” answered the Rabbit.

“But listen!” exclaimed the Monkey. “Can you tell me this? I went to sleep in the toy store, and I woke up here–in a house, I guess it is–in a pasteboard box on a table set with dishes.”

“Yes, this is a house,” said the Candy Rabbit. “I live here with a little girl named Madeline. There is also a boy named Herbert here. And these really are dishes on the table. It is the breakfast table, and soon the children will be down to eat.”

“But what am I doing here?” asked the Monkey in great surprise. “I can’t understand it! Why am I here? I went to sleep in the store, and I woke up on a breakfast table. Can this be a trick or a riddle of the Calico Clown’s? Is he going to ask what is more surprised than a Monkey on a Stick at the breakfast table, as he asks what makes more noise than a pig under a gate?”

“No, I think the Calico Clown had nothing to do with your being here,” said the Candy Rabbit with a smile.

“Then who did?” asked the Monkey.

“Herbert. A boy who lives here with his sister Madeline,” went on the Rabbit.

“Dear me! this is getting more and more riddly-like and jokey,” said the Monkey. “I don’t understand it at all! Why am I not in the store where I belong?”

“Because you don’t belong there any more,” cried the Candy Rabbit. “You were bought for the boy Herbert, and you are here at his breakfast plate as a surprise.”

“Well, he isn’t going to be any more surprised than I am,” chattered the Monkey. “I don’t seem to understand this at all. How did I get here?”

“I imagine that, after you went to sleep in the store last night, one of the clerks at the toy counter put you in the pasteboard box, wrapped you up and sent you here.”

“I see how it happened,” said the Monkey. “I went to sleep in the store yesterday afternoon. I had been up late the night before, as we toys were having some fun. I was trying to guess a riddle the Calico Clown asked. It was how do the seeds get inside the apple when there aren’t any holes in the skin. I was thinking of that riddle, and it kept me up quite late the night before.”